Nano-silica from white silica sand functionalized with PANI-SDS (SiO2/PANI-SDS) as an adsorbent for the elimination of methylene blue from aqueous media

Abstract Natural resources including sand are one of the best approaches for treating dye-polluted wastewater. The SiO2/PANI-SDS nanocomposite was synthesized by self-assembly and intermolecular interaction. The physicochemical features of the SiO2/PANI-SDS nanocomposite were explored by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, and N2 adsorption–desorption techniques to be evaluated as an adsorbent for the MB. The surface area of the SiO2/PANI-SDS is 23.317 m2/g, the pore size is 0.036 cm3/g, and the pore radius is 1.91 nm. Batch kinetic studies at different initial adsorbate, adsorbent and NaCl concentrations, and temperatures showed excellent pseudo-second-order. Several isotherm models were applied to evaluate the MB adsorption on the SiO2/PANI-SDS nanocomposite. According to R2 values the isotherm models were fitted in the following order: Langmuir > Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) > Freundlich. The adsorption/desorption process showed good reusability of the SiO2/PANI-SDS nanocomposite.