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Dye adsorption on electrochemical exfoliated graphene oxide nanosheets: pH influence, kinetics and equilibrium in aqueous solution

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Abstract

Graphene oxide nanosheets were synthesized by electrochemical exfoliation. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry were used to characterize crystal structure, particle size, thickness and function groups of the nanosheets. The nanosheets were examined for adsorption of methyl orange, an anionic dye, in aqueous solution at different pHs and temperatures. The maximum adsorption capacity of methyl orange on graphene oxide nanosheets obtained from the Langmuir isotherm was 138.69 mg/g at pH 2.0, which is larger than that of other carbonaceous adsorbents. The large adsorption affinity of graphene oxide nanosheets to methyl orange might be due to the presence of hydrogen bonding and π–π interaction between methyl orange and graphene oxide nanosheets. Adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the isotherm adsorption results were fitted with Langmuir isotherm model in a monolayer adsorption manner. The thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption reaction was a spontaneous physisorption process.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Number: 2011CB936003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 21373183) and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: LY12B07001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    J. Gong, X. Gao, M. Li & Q. Nie

  2. Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    W. Pan & R. Liu

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  1. J. Gong
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  2. X. Gao
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  3. M. Li
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  4. Q. Nie
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  5. W. Pan
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  6. R. Liu
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Correspondence to R. Liu.

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Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour.

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Gong, J., Gao, X., Li, M. et al. Dye adsorption on electrochemical exfoliated graphene oxide nanosheets: pH influence, kinetics and equilibrium in aqueous solution. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 305–314 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1143-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1143-8

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