Synthesis of novel polyaniline/MgO composite for enhanced adsorption of reactive dye

ABSTRACT In this investigation, the porous structure of polyaniline/MgO (PANI/MgO) composites has been successfully synthesized by in‐situ oxidative polymerization method. The as‐prepared materials were characterized by Ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The obtained composites, for the first time, are used as an adsorbent for the removal of the sulfonated anionic dye reactive orange 16 (RO) from aqueous solution. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms of RO on the PANI/MgO composites were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich models, suggesting that the Langmuir model provides the better correlation of the experimental data and maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 558.4 mg g−1. In addition, adsorption kinetics was followed by both pseudo‐first‐order and pseudo‐second‐order, but the latter model matches the results much better than the former one. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40210.