Decontamination of Heavy Metals from Wastewater Effluent Using Polypyrrole/Polyvinylpyrrolidone Nanoparticles

Polypyrrole nanoparticles prepared in the presence and absence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PPy/PVP) fine black powders have been synthesized as adsorbents for the removal of copper Cu (Ⅱ) and iron Fe (Ⅲ) ions from aqueous solution. PPy and PPy/PVP were chemically prepared by using ferric chloride as an oxidant, and distillate water as a solvent with and without polyvinylpyrrolidone as a surfactant. The prepared PPy and PPy/PVP adsorbents were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results display BET surface area equals 7.88 and 21.93 for PPy and PPy/PVP, respectively. The data also shows that PPy/PVP acts as flawless adsorbent for the removal of copper and iron ions from aqueous solution with sequestration percentage of 90% and 83% in 2 hours respectively.