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Montmorillonite-based photoresponsive microcapsules for efficient removal of chromium

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Abstract

Pickering emulsion method is used to construct photo-responsive metal-free microcapsules comprising graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets dispersed in montmorillonite (Mt) colloidosomes. Morphology characterization revealed a spherical-shaped microcapsule with diameter ranges from 5 to 50 µm. Cr (VI) was employed as a target contaminant to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the microcapsules. Batch investigation showed pH 3 to be the optimal condition with a complete Cr (VI) removal. XPS analysis proved that the as-prepared microcapsule is able to reduce Cr (VI) to Cr (III).

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant Numbers 42061134018, 42011530085), the Russian Science Foundation (RSF, Grant Number 21-47-00019) and the Doctoral Research Foundation (Including Talent Introduction) Project of Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant Number 22zx7173).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Resource, Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle of Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, Sichuan, China

    Edward Opong Acheampong, Ke Wang, Rui Lv, Sen Lin & Shiyong Sun

  2. Yushkin’s Institute of Geology, Komi Science Center, Ural Branch of RAS, ul Pervomayskaya, 54, Syktyvkar, Russia, 167982

    Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Golubev & Olga Borisovna Kotova

  3. Mining State University St. Petersburg, 21St Line, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199106

    Elena Leonidovna Kotova

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  1. Edward Opong Acheampong
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Acheampong, E.O., Wang, K., Lv, R. et al. Montmorillonite-based photoresponsive microcapsules for efficient removal of chromium. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 3675–3686 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09039-4

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