Cationic Pollutant Removal from Aqueous Solution Using Reduced Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is one of the most well-known graphene derivatives, which, due to its outstanding physical and chemical properties as well as its oxygen content, has been used for wastewater treatment technologies. Particularly, extra functionalized rGO is widely preferred for treating wastewater containing dyes or heavy metals. Nevertheless, the use of non-extra functionalized (pristine) rGO for the removal of cationic pollutants is not explored in detail or is ambiguous. Herein, pristine rGO—prepared by an eco-friendly protocol—is used for the removal of cationic pollutants from water, i.e., methylene blue (MB) and mercury-(II) (Hg-(II)). This work includes the eco-friendly synthesis process and related spectroscopical and morphological characterization. Most importantly, the investigated rGO shows an adsorption capacity of 121.95 mg g−1 for MB and 109.49 mg g−1 for Hg (II) at 298 K. A record adsorption time of 30 min was found for MB and 20 min for Hg (II) with an efficiency of about 89% and 73%, respectively. The capture of tested cationic pollutants on rGO exhibits a mixed physisorption–chemisorption process. The present work, therefore, presents new findings for cationic pollutant adsorbent materials based on oxidized graphenes, providing a new perspective for removing MB molecules and Hg(II) ions.

Tunable optical and semiconducting properties of eco-friendly-prepared reduced graphene oxide

“…Here, we provide a brief description of the synthesis of GO and rGO, which is depicted in Schematic S1. Our prior works and associated applications ( Tene et al, 2020 ; Tene et al, 2022b ; Tene et al, 2023a ; Tene et al, 2023b ) contain more comprehensive information regarding the full synthesis process. Furthermore, for a meaningful comparison with the present work involving other environmentally friendly reducing agents, please refer to Ref.…”

Removal of mercury(II) from aqueous solution by partially reduced graphene oxide

“…Because of the weaknesses and handicaps associated with existing adsorbents, it is important to develop new types of materials for highly effective and highly efficient removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solutions. To tackle the aforementioned limitations, carbon nanomaterials with a higher surface area have been proposed, such as carbon nanotubes 25 , graphene oxide (GO) 26 , and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) 27 . Among them, rGO has attracted increased attention as an efficient adsorbent of dyes 28 and heavy metal ions 29 due to its hydrophilic properties, biocompatibility, and cost-effective preparation method 30 .…”

Calibration of Fermi Velocity to Explore the Plasmonic Character of Graphene Nanoribbon Arrays by a Semi-Analytical Model

“…Graphene, a sheet of carbon atoms packed in a honeycomb lattice, attracted huge interest since it was first isolated in 2004 [1], because of its unique electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties [2][3][4][5], not to mention the number of potential applications, ranging from high-frequency electronics to smart coatings [6], along with envisaged environmental benefits [7,8]. The most distinguished feature of graphene is the conic dispersion of its electronic bands, or the so-called Dirac cones [9], which can be described by a massless Dirac Hamiltonian [10].…”