Application of Magnetic Graphene Oxide for Water Purification: Heavy Metals Removal and Disinfection

•Magnetic Graphene oxide (MGO) was synthesized via co-precipitation method.•Adsorption capacity of MGO was enhanced due to Metal chelation and electrostatic attraction.•MGO exhibited excellent removal efficiency of 98.787 %, 97.150 % and 97.689 % towards E-Coli, yersina ruckeri and antobacter agglomerans respectively.•MGO could be effectively used up to four cycles. Water pollutant like heavy metals is one of the major hazards due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. In this study, a simple, fast and facile method was applied for the synthesis of magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) by fabricating the surface of graphene oxide (GO) with iron particles (Fe3+). Characterization of MGO was done by UV-VIS, FT-IR, SEM, XRD and VSM. Efficient removal of toxic heavy metal ions (Pb+2, Cr+3, Cu+2, Zn+2 and Ni+2) were studied using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The adsorption performance of MGO was evaluated by investigating the effect of different parameters such as pH (3-9), temperature (25-55 °C), contact time (10-65 mins) and adsorbent dose (0.002 – 0.016 g). The maximum adsorption capacities at pH 5.0 for Pb (II), pH 6 for Cr (III), pH 6 for Cu (II), pH 7 for Zn (II) and pH 8 for Ni (II), ions were 200, 24.330, 62.893, 63.694 and 51.020 mg/g respectively. The adsorption processes was spontaneous and endothermic, followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model. MGO action against microbial activity of E-Coli, Yersina Ruckeri and Antobacter Agglomerans was also studied. The results exhibited that MGO is a competent adsorbent and disinfectant for safe drinking water.