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Hydrous CeO2 polypyrrole nanocomposite as a stable and efficient adsorbent for defluoridation of acidic wastewater

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Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy) is widely available and has excellent potential for removing fluoride. Current research on PPy for fluoride removal mainly focuses on low-pollution neutral solution systems, such as drinking water and groundwater. However, there are fewer systematic studies on defluorination in acidic wastewater. In this work, a highly efficient hydrous CeO2 polypyrrole nanocomposite (HCeO2@PPy) was prepared by in situ oxidative polymerization. The composites were characterized using XRD, SEM–EDS, FTIR, XPS, and point-of-zero charge (pzc) determination. The material was tested for its ability to remove fluoride from both simulated and industrial wastewater. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of HCeO2@PPy increased by 3 times to 43.6 mg/g when compared to PPy. The adsorbent was particularly effective in removing F− under acidic conditions. The Langmuir model was used to describe the adsorption process, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 80.93 mg/g. In competitive anion adsorption experiments, other ions had negligible effects on fluoride ion removal and the adsorbent had a strong affinity for F−. In addition, the adsorbent was able to achieve a removal efficiency of 71.7% in acidic wastewater. The main adsorption mechanism is attributed to ion exchange and electrostatic attraction. This study provides new insights for the development of efficient and stable fluoride removal materials in acidic fluoride wastewater with complex compositions.

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Acknowledgements

This research is financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFC1909200), and the Key Research and Development Program of Hunan Province (2018SK2026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced High-temperature Materials and Precision Forming and State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Ting Wang & Jiao Zhang

  2. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, China

    Haiyin Gang, Yiyun Cao, Lvji Yan, Dun Wei & Haiying Wang

Authors
  1. Ting Wang
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  2. Haiyin Gang
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  3. Yiyun Cao
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  4. Lvji Yan
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  5. Dun Wei
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  6. Haiying Wang
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  7. Jiao Zhang
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Contributions

TW contributed to conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing—review & editing, visualization, and validation. HG contributed to writing—review & editing. YC contributed to writing—review & editing. LY contributed to writing—review & editing. DW contributed to writing—review & editing. HW contributed to methodology, resources, project administration, supervision, and visualization. JZ contributed to supervision, review & editing, visualization, and validation.

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Correspondence to Haiying Wang.

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Wang, T., Gang, H., Cao, Y. et al. Hydrous CeO2 polypyrrole nanocomposite as a stable and efficient adsorbent for defluoridation of acidic wastewater. J Mater Sci 58, 7895–7914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08501-8

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