Effect of Dispersion on Adsorption of Atrazine by Aqueous Suspensions of Fullerenes

With the widespread application of fullerenes, it is critical to assess their environmental behaviors and their impacts on the transport and bioavailability of organic contaminants. The effects of fullerene particle size, chemistry of the solution, and natural organic matter on the adsorption of atrazine by aqueous dispersions of fullerenes (C(60)) were investigated in this work. The results showed that the Polanyi-Manes model could fit the adsorption isotherms well. Smaller sizes of fullerene particles led to increased available sites and, consequently, enhanced the adsorption of atrazine on C(60). However, intensely dispersed C(60) systems might not possess suitably high adsorptive capacities due to surface chemistry change. Adsorption of atrazine by aqueous dispersions of C(60) increased with a decrease in the pH of the solution. Introduction of humic acid significantly reduced the size of the C(60) particles, and resulted in the increase of the adsorption amount. Fullerene materials, once released into the aquatic environment, are inclined to form aqueous suspensions with different degrees of dispersion, which would greatly affect the transport and fate of organic contaminants.