Synthesis and characterization of polyaniline, polypyrrole and zero-valent iron-based materials for the adsorptive and oxidative removal of bisphenol-A from aqueous solution.

One pot synthesis of a polypyrrole, polyaniline and Fe nano-composite (Fe-PPY/PANI) was achieved by polymerizing aniline and pyrrole with FeCl followed by the reduction of Fe to Fe with NaBH. PPY/PANI was synthesized the same way as Fe-PPY/PANI, except that all the FeCl was removed by rinsing. The presence of Fe was demonstrated using several analytical techniques; this was shown in comparison to materials that are without Fe. A series of materials were screened as both adsorbents and catalyst for the activation of HO towards bisphenol A (BPA) removal in batch experiments. Polymers performed better than composites containing Fe at adsorption, whereas Fe based materials were better catalysts for the activation of HO. BPA samples were then spiked with other contaminants including sewage water to test the performance of the various adsorbents and Fenton catalysts. PPY/PANI was found to be a better adsorbent than the rest, whereas Fe-PPY/PANI was the best Fenton catalyst. The adsorption kinetics of BPA onto PPY/PANI was studied; it was found that the process was governed by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherms revealed that the amount of BPA taken up by PPY/PANI increased with increasing temperature and was governed by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The mechanism in which Fe-PPY/PANI and HO degraded BPA was studied, it was found that surface-bound hydroxyl radicals were responsible for the degradation of BPA. It was also shown that the degradation process included the formation of smaller compounds leading to the reduction of the total organic content by 57%.