Synthesis, Characterization and Adsorption Studies of Chlorine–doped Carbon Nanotubes

Chorine doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are synthesized to introduce dipole moment into the lattice of the CNTs to enhance interaction with cationic species in adsorption. Cobalt and silver co-catalyst supported on magnesium oxide (MgO) is used as growth promoter and their morphological features were studied using Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. Equilibrium and thermodynamic batch adsorption experiments were carried out by studying the concentration, time and temperature effects. The morphological images of the doped carbon materials showed amorphous multiwall nanotubes with some crystalline regions that are attributable to the doping of the chlorine. The adsorption studies recorded a rapid uptake of Cr3+ by the carbon nanotubes h was mainly diffusion controlled. The thermodynamic studies suggested relatively low temperature (low energy) favoured sorption was exothermic with a physic-sorption mechanism. KeywordsAdsorption; Carbon Nanotubes; Chlorine; Synthesis