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Enhanced adsorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants by high surface area porous graphene

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Abstract

The relatively low surface area and micropore volume of graphene nanosheets (GNS) limit their potential application as effective adsorbents for hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs). In this study, KOH etching was used to develop activated GNS (K-GNS) for adsorption of model HOCs such as naphthalene, phenol, nitrobenzene, and bisphenol A. After activation, the specific surface area (SSA) of K-GNS increased to 885 m2/g, which was three times larger than that of GNS. The micropore volume of K-GNS substantially increased and the C/O ratio was doubled. Accordingly, the adsorption capacity of these HOCs on K-GNS was larger than that of pristine GNS (P-GNS) by 2–8 times. The kinetic data was fitted by the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption isotherms of HOCs on P-GNS and K-GNS were fitted by the Freundlich model. The desorption studies showed the K-GNS had a lower rate of release than P-GNS. The high adsorption of naphthalene, phenol, nitrobenzene, and bisphenol A on P-GNS and K-GNS is dominated by hydrophobic and π-π interactions. Additionally, the π-π EDA interaction and hydrogen bond between K-GNS and substituents cannot be ignored.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 41807373 and 21667015) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0213400).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science & Technology, Kunming, 650500, China

    Lixuan Ma, Chi Wang, Bo Liu & Yi Mei

  2. Faculty of Environmental Science & Engineering, Kunming University of Science & Technology, Kunming, 650500, China

    Lixuan Ma, Kai Li & Ping Ning

  3. Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Saving in Phosphorus Chemical Engineering and New Phosphorus Materials, Kunming, 650500, China

    Chi Wang, Bo Liu & Yi Mei

  4. The Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Phosphorus Chemical Engineering of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, China

    Chi Wang, Bo Liu & Yi Mei

  5. Faculty of Agriculture and Food, Kunming University of Science & Technology, Kunming, 650500, China

    Hongbo Peng

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  1. Lixuan Ma
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  2. Kai Li
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  3. Chi Wang
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Correspondence to Chi Wang.

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Ma, L., Li, K., Wang, C. et al. Enhanced adsorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants by high surface area porous graphene. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 7309–7317 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07439-2

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