Removal of organochlorine pesticides by chitosan loaded with silver oxide nanoparticles from water

Silver oxide nanoparticles embedded chitosan beads were studied to remove pesticides from water. A simple and an effective approach was used in regard to preparing AgO nanoparticles on the surface of chitosan. The chitosan–AgO nanoparticles (CS–AgONPs) composite was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The CS–AgONPs composite beads were optimized to remove maximum permethrin as the model pesticide, with amount of sorbent, agitating time, initial concentration of pesticide, and pH parameters. In optimum conditions, room temperature, pH 7, and the CS–AgONPs beads could recover 99 % pesticides of permethrin solution (0.1 mg L-1) which were characterized by using UV spectrophotometer at 272 nm. In comparison with the pure chitosan, the removal capacity of CS–AgONPs beads has been increased to 49 %. The CS–AgONPs composite beads have high capacity as an adsorbent which could explore a new biocompatible and eco-friendly strategy for pesticide removal, and appears to be the new promising material in water treatment application.