ABSTRACT
Activated carbon-doped magnetic nanoparticles have gained considerable attention in the field of water and wastewater treatment. Cobalt, iron, and nickel are among the magnetic elements that can be doped into activated carbon. However, iron is widely used in the manufacture of activated carbon decorated magnetic nanoparticles, because nickel and cobalt are highly toxic and susceptible to oxidation, and may jeopardize the performance of the adsorbent (Vatta et al. 2006). Nanoparticles in the size from 1 to 100 nm exhibit a variety of unique magnetic and adsorptive characteristics to activated carbon (Vatta et al. 2006; Zhu et al. 2013). Furthermore, the advantage of using the smaller-sized particles lies in a higher effective surface area to accommodate various contaminants in water (Zhu et al. 2013).
