Removal of malachite green from aqueous solution by zinc oxide nanoparticle loaded on activated carbon: Kinetics and isotherm study

•The authors employ the non-toxic and safe adsorbent for MG removal.•The effect of some parameters on adsorption interpreted by this model.•Applicability and surface adsorption capacity of this novel adsorbent is high.•Using small amount of adsorbent in short time is necessary for complete dye removal. In this research, a novel adsorbent, zinc oxide nanoparticle loaded on activated carbon (ZnO-NP-AC) was synthesized by a simple, low cost and efficient procedure. Subsequently, this novel material was characterizated and identified by different techniques such as Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis. Unique properties such as high surface area (>603m2/g) and low pore size (