Fabrication of N-doped carbons from waste bamboo shoot shell with high removal efficiency of organic dyes from water

Abstract

N-doped carbons were obtained from bamboo shoot shell via hydrothermal pretreatment under salt assistance followed by carbonization, using melamine as nitrogen source. The carbons with tubular morphology and surface areas in 406–489 m2/g range were used as adsorbents for the removal of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB). Adsorption isotherms and kinetic fitting showed much better accordance with Freundlich model and pseudo-second-order, showing balanced capacity (qe) of 50 mg/g for MO and 42 mg/g for RhB on the pristine carbons (BHC-800) at 25 °C. After N-doping treatment, carbons (BSC-M20) had qe of MO and RhB up to 140 and 100 mg/g, respectively, confirming a positive effect of N-doping on the enhancement of dyes removal. The findings indicated that hydrothermal treatment followed by carbonization was efficient to obtain N-doped carbons from biomass materials, and the present BSS-derived carbons were promising adsorbents for organic dyes removal from water.