Different crystalline calcium silicate hydrates (CSH) were synthesized under specific hydrothermal conditions and several methods were used to analyze samples. Amorphous calcium silicate hydrates (ACSH) mainly consists of disordered calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H gel) and crystalline calcium silicate hydrates (CCSH) consists of crystallized tobermorite. The adsorption of carcinogenic aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) onto ACSH and CCSH was investigated. The adsorption kinetics was studied using pseudofirst-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models and intraparticle diffusion model. The pseudo-second-order model provided the best correlation and the intraparticle diffusion controlled the adsorption process of AFB1 onto CCSH. Adsorption isotherm parameters were obtained from Langmuir and Freundlich and the adsorption data fitted to Freundlich much better. Based on the results of N 2 adsorption/desorption, adsorption kinetics, and adsorption isotherms, the adsorption mechanism of AFB1 onto CCSH was developed. All results indicate that CCSH has a great potential to be a safe, easy-made, and cost-effective material for the control of AFB1 contamination.

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Calcium silicate hydrate based on steel slag (SCSH) and Ni-doped SCSH (NSCSH) were synthesized under specific hydrothermal conditions at saturated vapor pressure and 185°C for 7 hours. The structure and morphology of SCSH and NSCSH were characterized by XRD, SEM, and N2adsorption/desorption. SCSH mainly consisted of amorphous calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H gel) together with some flake-like tobermorite and NSCSH consisted of crystalline tobermorite and xonotlite. The addition of Ni(NO3)2had great influence on microstructure of the composites, and SCSH possesses a mesoporous structure with slit-shaped pores, but NSCSH has narrow distributions of pore size. Furthermore, NSCSH has a higher adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B (RhB) than SCSH with removal percentages of RhB of about 52.4% and 88.2%, respectively. In addition, the effects of NSCSH dosage and pH values on the adsorption of RhB were investigated. Adsorption isotherm parameters are obtained from both Langmuir and Freundlich analysis and showed a better fit to a Langmuir model. All results indicated that NSCSH has a great potential to be a safe, easily-made, and cost-effective material for the control of RhB contamination.

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