Synthesis of Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄/Graphite Nanocomposite for Methylene Blue Filtration Membrane

Departement of Physics, Faculty Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: ahmad.taufiq.fmipa@um.ac.id

Abstract

In general, the increase in textile industry development has a negative impact on water pollution, especially related to textile waste that usually contains toxic dyes such as methylene blue. The filtration membrane was fabricated using the phase inversion method from the Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄/graphite nanocomposite incorporated with polyether sulfone (PES) as a membrane. The Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄/graphite was synthesized using Indonesian iron sand and coconut shells. The X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the nanocomposite was composed of a crystalline phase with the highest peaks appearing at 2θ = 26° and 35.6°, corresponding to the peaks of graphite and Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄, respectively. Furthermore, the Fe-O and C=C functional groups from the Fourier-transform infrared spectrum confirmed the presence of respective Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄ and graphite. The hysteresis curve showed that the Mn_0.1Fe_2.9O₄/graphite nanocomposite had a superparamagnetic character. The membrane showed good performance for filtering methylene blue as indicated by a water flux value of 158.86 Lm^-2h^-1. These results show that nanocomposite-based membranes have great potential to be applied as methylene blue filters.