Tillandsia Aeranthos flower-like magnetic nanostructures confined into polyvinyl alcohol beads

Abstract

Magnetic beads composed by polyvinyl alcohol and iron oxides were developed and fully characterized. The materials were not only cross-linked by a physical treatment but also the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are acting as crosslinking dots. Interestingly, the analysis of scanning electron micrographs revealed that, in the case of hydrated samples, flower-like structures (average diameter 6–9 μm) being constituted by MNPs were present, whereas when the beads were dried the MNPs structure changed to porous spheres (average diameter 2–3 μm). Some of the prepared materials were tested to determine their capability to act as water remediation devices, and good removal results were obtained toward both methylene blue (average removal efficiency higher than 80%) and methyl orange (average removal efficiency lower than 30%) adsorption. The experiments performed confirmed that the adsorbent, once the treatment has ended, can be removed off through the simple employment of a permanent magnet.