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Fabrication of chitosan/alginate porous sponges as adsorbents for the removal of acid dyes from aqueous solution

  • Polymers
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Abstract

Effective wastewater remediation requires the development of suitable adsorbents. In this study, a strategy based on electrostatic interactions between the amino groups of chitosan and the anionic groups of acid dyes was developed for the removal of acid dyes from aqueous solution. By adjusting the fabrication parameters, chitosan/alginate porous sponges with controlled specific areas and pore structures were obtained. To enlarge the adsorption area, the adsorbents were processed via a freezing and lyophilization method to form three-dimensional porous sponges. Acid dyes in aqueous solution were adsorbed by the porous sponges, mainly through an electrostatic interaction mechanism. When the molar ratio of chitosan to alginate was fixed at 1.5:1, the porous sponges showed a maximum adsorption removal capacity of 1468.9 ± 16.3 mg g−1 for acid red B14 at a dye concentration of 150 mg L−1 and pH of 2. The adsorption capacity of this system was significantly enhanced compared with those of control groups such as chitosan powder. Thus, chitosan porous scaffolds provide a novel method for improving the removal capacities of chitosan-based materials for cleanup of acid–dye-contaminated water.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 81701844, 51773057 and 81701837), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2017J05029) and Department of Education of Fujian Province (JAT160343), the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Chemical Engineering and Materials (2016 [7]), IUC Program of Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 15CY004) and the Open-end Funds of Fujian Engineering, and Research Center of Rural Sewage Treatment and Water Safety (EBL2018006). We would also like to thank Editage [www.editage.cn] for English language editing.

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Author notes

  1. Mengxiang Zeng and Wei Wu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Rural Sewage Treatment and Water Safety, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China

    Mengxiang Zeng & Jianjun Fang

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Wu, Jianjun Fang & Zhihua Zhou

  3. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Controllable Preparation and Functional Application of Fine Polymers, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, People’s Republic of China

    Jianjun Fang & Zhihua Zhou

  4. Key Laboratory of Theoretical Organic Chemistry and Function Molecule of Ministry of Education, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, People’s Republic of China

    Zhihua Zhou

  5. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, People’s Republic of China

    Sufang Li

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  1. Mengxiang Zeng
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Correspondence to Jianjun Fang, Sufang Li or Zhihua Zhou.

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Zeng, M., Wu, W., Fang, J. et al. Fabrication of chitosan/alginate porous sponges as adsorbents for the removal of acid dyes from aqueous solution. J Mater Sci 54, 9995–10008 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03602-9

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