Premium
Preparation of an Anti‐Aggregation Silica/Zinc/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite with Enhanced Adsorption Capacity
Author(s) -
Yue Yajun,
Cao Zhanfang,
Yang Fan,
Wang Jing,
Abrahams Isaac
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201903875
Subject(s) - adsorption , graphene , chemisorption , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , nanocomposite , oxide , materials science , mesoporous silica , methylene blue , sorption , langmuir adsorption model , chemical engineering , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , mesoporous material , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , nanotechnology , catalysis , engineering
Nanomaterials play a significant role in adsorption treatment of dye wastewater, but irreversible aggregation of nanoparticles poses a significant problem. In this work, nanomesoporous zinc‐doped silicate (NMSZ) was prepared by an in situ method. To prevent agglomeration, NMSZ was covalently bonded to graphene oxide (GO) sheets to form a nano‐silica/zinc/graphene oxide composite (GO‐NMSZ), aimed at removal of cationic dye methylene blue (MB). For comparison, undoped mesoporous silica (MS) was also synthesized and modified to obtain a silica/graphene oxide composite (GO‐MS). The materials were characterized by powder XRD, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, TEM, nitrogen sorption, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Preservation of the oxygen‐containing groups of GO in the composites led to higher adsorption capacities. The best GO‐NMSZ composite exhibited an enhanced adsorption capacity of 100.4 mg g −1 for MB compared to those of undoped GO‐MS (80.1 mg g −1 ) and nongrafted NMSZ (55.7 mg g −1 ). The nonselective character of GO‐NMSZ is demonstrated by effective adsorption of anionic dye Congo red (127.4 mg g −1 ) and neutral dye isatin (289.0 mg g −1 ). The adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, and a thermodynamic study suggested that MB adsorption occurs by chemisorption and is endothermic in nature.