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Exceptional As(III) Sorption Capacity by Highly Porous Magnesium Oxide Nanoflakes Made from Hydrothermal Synthesis
Author(s) -
Liu Yang,
Li Qi,
Gao Shian,
Shang Jian Ku
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2010.04043.x
Subject(s) - sorption , magnesium , calcination , aqueous solution , hydrothermal circulation , oxide , specific surface area , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , nanomaterials , hydroxide , chemistry , materials science , adsorption , nanotechnology , catalysis , organic chemistry , engineering
Highly porous magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoflakes were synthesized by the calcination of magnesium hydroxide nanoflakes created by a hydrothermal process. These MgO nanoflakes have a high specific surface area at 115.9 m 2 /g, and a total pore volume of ∼0.254 cm 3 /g. They demonstrated an exceptional As(III) removal performance from aqueous solutions, and their maximum sorption capacity could reach 506.6 mg/g, much higher than most reported values from other metal oxide nanomaterials. Such a high As(III) sorption capacity was found to depend on the in situ formation of Mg(OH) 2 owing to the interaction of MgO nanoflakes with water. While preserving most of the large surface area of MgO nanoflakes, the in situ formed Mg(OH) 2 had high affinity to As(III) in aqueous environment, and could react with As(III) to form a magnesium–arsenite compound, which is ultimately responsible for the exceptionally high As(III) sorption capacity of MgO nanoflakes.