Water Science & Technology Vol 66 No 3 pp 503–509 © IWA Publishing 2012 doi:10.2166/wst.2012.185

Preliminary study of phosphate adsorption onto cerium oxide nanoparticles for use in water purification; nanoparticles synthesis and characterization

Sonia Recillas, Ana García, Edgar González, Eudald Casals, Victor Puntes, Antoni Sánchez and Xavier Font

In this study, the synthesis and characterization of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO₂-NPs) and their adsorption potential for removing phosphate from water was evaluated using a multi-factor experimental design to explore the effect of various factors on adsorption. The objective function selected was the percentage of phosphate removed from water, in which the phosphate concentration and the CeO₂-NP concentration are quantitative variables (factors in the experimental design). A lineal polynomial fitted the experimental results well (R² = 0.9803). The nanostructure was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM techniques before and after the adsorption process. During the adsorption and desorption processes several changes in the morphology and surface chemistry of the CeO₂-NPs were observed.

Keywords: adsorption; cerium oxide nanoparticles; desorption; experimental design; phosphate

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