Improved Adsorption of Organic Dyes onto a Polypyrrole/Tannic Acid Nanocomposite

Methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) dyes are toxic and carcinogenic; thus, their presence in water bodies has been a major concern. Designing an efficient adsorbent for removal of these dyes is a scientific challenge for researchers. In this work, a polypyrrole-tannic acid nanocomposite was prepared via a chemical oxidation method and used as a novel adsorbent for removing these toxic dyes. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller methods. The effect of different parameters on adsorption such as adsorbent doses, temperature, pH, initial dye concentration, and contact time was studied. The adsorption was in line with pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm model. Δ<i>G</i>°, Δ<i>H</i>°, and Δ<i>S</i>° were calculated to ascertain the feasibility of adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacities attained for this adsorbent were found to be 204.08 mg/g toward the MO dye and 217.39 mg/g toward the MB dye.