Abstract
Antibiotic residues in drinking water have become a global problem, especially in developing countries. However, effective purification of water contaminated by antibiotics remains a great challenge. Here, we investigated the removing of tetracycline by carbon nanomaterials with different structures and surface functionalities. The result shows that a membrane of thick graphene oxide (GO) and activated carbon (AC) with a thickness of 15 μm can effectively remove 98.9% of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) from water by vacuum filtration. Structural analysis indicated that the AC nanoparticles were uniformly inserted into the GO interstitial sites without any aggregations. Also, GO sheets were loosened by the encapsulated AC nanoparticles, leading to the formation of numerous tiny pores (3–10 nm) that acted as channels for fluid passage, whereas the carbons and chemical groups on the GO surface adsorbed TCH. GO/AC membrane exhibits the best adsorption efficiency among the investigated materials, including pure GO, AC, carbon nanotube (CNT), and CNT/AC and GO/CNT hybrids.
Highlights
Industrialization in the modern world has brought about the development of new products but has likewise generated novel contaminants, which could profoundly harm our environment[1,2]
Compared with graphene oxide (GO)/carbon nanotube (CNT) and GO/activated carbon (AC), the membranes made of pure GO performed poorly due to its dense structure that arose from the strong π-πstacking[27] (Fig. 1d)
When CNTs and ACs were inserted into the interstitial sites of the GO nanoflakes, porous structures formed inside the hybrid membranes
Summary
Industrialization in the modern world has brought about the development of new products but has likewise generated novel contaminants, which could profoundly harm our environment[1,2]. The development of carbon nanomaterials with large surface areas and/or porous structures, but with significantly reduced tendencies to aggregate, is of great interest to the scientific community, especially for the purposes of contaminant removal. To this end, membrane separation appears to provide a rational option, and the technology has been used in the water purification, food processing, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries[23,24,25]. The structures of these membranes were analyzed, and their adsorption performances were investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
