Effective adsorption of sulfamethoxazole, bisphenol A and methyl orange on nanoporous carbon derived from metal-organic frameworks

Nanoporous carbons（NPCs） derived from metal–organic frameworks（MOFs） are attracting increasing attention in many areas by virtue of their high specific surface area, large pore volume and unique porosity. The present work reports the preparation of an NPC with high surface area（1731 m^2/g） and pore volume（1.68 cm^3/g） by direct carbonization of MOF-5. We examined the adsorption of three typical contaminants from aqueous solutions, i.e., sulfamethoxazole（SMX）,bisphenol A（BPA） and methyl orange（MO）, by using the as-prepared NPC. The results demonstrated that NPC could adsorb the contaminants effectively, with adsorption capacity（qm） of 625 mg/g（SMX）, 757 mg/g（BPA） and 872 mg/g（MO）, respectively. These values were approximately 1.0-3.2 times higher than those obtained for single-walled carbon nanotubes（SWCNTs） and commercial powder active carbon（PAC） under the same conditions. With its high surface area and unique meso/macropore structure, the enhanced adsorption of NPC most likely originates from the cooperative interaction of a pore-filling mechanism, electrostatic interaction,and hydrogen bonding. In particular, the p H value has a crucial impact on adsorption, suggesting the significant contribution of electrostatic interaction between NPC and the contaminants. This study provides a proof-of-concept demonstration of MOF-derived nanoporous carbons as effective adsorbents of contaminants for water treatment.

Hierarchically Porous Carbon Membranes Derived from PAN and Their Selective Adsorption of Organic Dyes

Porous carbon membranes were favorably fabricated through the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile（PAN） precursors, which were prepared with a template-free technique-thermally induced phase separation. These carbon membranes possess hierarchical pores, including cellular macropores across the whole membranes and much small pores in the matrix as well as on the pore walls. Nitrogen adsorption indicates micropores（1.47 and 1.84 nm） and mesopores（2.21 nm） exist inside the carbon membranes, resulting in their specific surface area as large as 1062 m2/g. The carbon membranes were used to adsorb organic dyes（methyl orange, Congo red, and rhodamine B） from aqueous solutions based on their advantages of hierarchical pore structures and large specific surface area. It is particularly noteworthy that the membranes present a selective adsorption towards methyl orange, whose molecular size（1.2 nm） is smaller than those of Congo red（2.3 nm） and rhodamine B（1.8 nm）. This attractive result can be attributed to the steric structure matching between the molecular size and the pore size, rather than electrostatic attraction. Furthermore, the used carbon membranes can be easily regenerated by hydrochloric acid, and their recovery adsorption ratio maintains above 90% even in the third cycle. This work may provide a new route for carbon-based adsorbents with hierarchical pores via a template-free approach, which could be promisingly applied to selectively remove dye contaminants in aqueous effluents.

Novel Al-doped carbon nanotubes with adsorption and coagulation promotion for organic pollutant removal

Al-doped carbon nanotubes（Al-doped CNTs） were prepared as a multifunctional integrated material of adsorbent and coagulant aid for organic pollutant removal from aqueous solution. It was observed that aluminum species were dispersed homogeneously on the surface of CNTs, and mainly anchored onto defect structures of the CNTs. The introduction of aluminium efficiently improved adsorption ability for methyl orange（MO） onto the CNTs,and maximum adsorption capacity calculated from the Langmuir isotherm model can reach 69.7 mg/g. The MO adsorption kinetics can be better described by the pseudo-second-order and pore diffusion kinetic models, and the diffusion of MO anions into pores of the Al-doped CNT adsorbent should be the rate-determining step.Thermodynamic analyses indicated that the adsorption of MO onto Al-CNTs-2.0 was endothermic and spontaneous. Moreover, adsorption capacity for MO on the Al-doped CNTs was evidently dependent on the CNT dose, solution p H and adsorbent dose. From the perspective of low-cost and multifunctional, suspension obtained during the Al-doped CNT adsorbent preparation, was tested as coagulant to remove humic acid（HA）. A significant observation is that the suspension exhibited an excellent coagulation performance for HA,because abundant aluminous polymer and Al-doped CNTs existed in the suspension.