A Novel Ternary Composite of GO/NiCoFe₂O₄/MIL‐53 for Enhanced Copper Removal from Wastewater

Abstract Excess copper levels have been associated with Alzheimer's disease, aging, mental illness, and DNA damage. As a result, the copper ions’ removal from water resources has become a major challenge. In this study, a novel ternary GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite was synthesized for the first time based upon a combination of GO, NiCoFe 2 O 4 , and MIL‐53(Al) MOF, which effectively removed Cu 2+ ions from aqueous solutions. The characterization was utilizing XRD, SEM/EDX, TEM, FT‐IR, TGA, XPS, and BET analysis. XRD and FT‐IR confirmed the formation of the GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite and Cu 2+ adsorption. SEM images showed that MIL‐53‐MOF crystals have a rhombohedral crystal structure, while the NiCoFe 2 O 4 particles have spindle‐like crystals organized in flower‐like shapes. The prepared GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite had a high specific surface area of 1235.58 m 2 g −1 and exhibited characteristics of a mesoporous structure. The GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite showed high Cu 2+ adsorption capacity of 90.09 mg g −1 and reserved high removal ability even after five cycles. Different experimental factors like pH, initial‐concentration, temperature, contact‐time, ionic‐strength, composite dosage, and coexisting‐ions, were explored. The results showed that Cu 2+ removal was fast and effective, with an efficiency exceeding 80 % within 30 minutes. The process of Cu 2+ adsorption on the composite was exothermic, spontaneous, and followed the pseudo‐second‐order kinetics and Langmuir isothermal model. The Cu 2+ recovery from water samples ranged between 86.5 %–94.3 %, indicating the excellent efficiency of the GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite for copper removal from real samples. Furthermore, the GO/NiCoFe 2 O 4 /MIL‐53 composite established the best performance compared to other works for copper removal from wastewater.