A Novel V₂O₃/ZnTiO₃ Nanocomposite as a Highly Effective Adsorbent for Congo Red Adsorption Applications

The dye effluents form a class of toxic chemicals which are potentially harmful for the human and aquatic health and require appropriate measures for reducing their adverse impact on environment. Adsorption is a green route for dye-removal and good adsorbents with fast and high adsorption capacity will always remain highly desirable for environmental mitigation. Here, we have reported a sol-gel prepared nanocomposite of V₂O₃/ZnTiO₃ as an efficient adsorbent for the Congo red (CR) dye. V₂O₃/ZnTiO₃ is potentially efficient adsorbent demonstrating 90% (of 800 ppm) adsorption of CR within 10 minutes which compares favourably with other adsorbent systems. The prepared nanocomposite has been well characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, DLS, FESEM, etc., to understand the formation of nanocomposite of V₂O₃ and ZnTiO₃. Further characterizations to gain insight into the reasons of improved adsorption behaviour are under way and will also be presented. The adsorption data have been recorded and fit to various well-established theoretical models and interpreted. The data fit the pseudo-second-order model signifying the chemical adsorption which is further confirmed by the Freundlich model. We have calculated the free energy of adsorption at 4.123 kJ/mol by using the D-R model. Weber-Morris equation infers the film diffusion as a rate-controlling step in adsorption. In the summary, the V₂O₃/ZnTiO₃ nanocomposite is a high-uptake and rapid adsorbent for CR dye.