Carbon Nanostructure Supported Ion Exchange Platform for Efficient Electrochemical Removal of Cesium from Aqueous System

Abstract

Recently, electrochemical adsorption through pre-concentration of heavy metals on the modified electrodes has been employed as a potential method for removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. With this perspective, a novel electrochemical separation system has been developed based on functionalized carbon nanostructures for removal of heavy metals including radionuclide from wastewater. Various carbon nanostructures were compared for their electrochemical adsorption capacity with respect to heavy metal pollutants encountered in waste water. While multi-walled carbon nanotubes and reduced graphene oxide have been explored immensely for sensing, graphitic carbon nitride is still new in the scenario. It was found to show impressive potential for heavy metal decontamination in the present study. Further, it was functionalized with an ion exchange molecule to explore the synergistic effect. This novel structure is proposed to enhance the conductivity of ion exchange molecule for efficient and speedy heavy metal decontamination with aprreciable reusability. Besides being considerably stable, it also allows electrochemical regeneration of the hybrid for subsequent use. The electrochemical adsorption/desorption system using carbon nanostructure supported ion exchange hybrid is a promising strategy for heavy metal decontamination from waste water. Figure 1