Abstract
Activated carbon (AC) has been widely utilized for the adsorption of pollutants from water. However, it is difficult to recycle the AC after adsorption. In this paper, we report a facile one-pot approach to fabricate magnetic poly(vinyl alcohol)/AC composite gel (mPVA/AC CG) by dropwise addition of an aqueous mixture of PVA, AC and iron ions into the ammonia solution. The obtained mPVA/AC CG after freeze-drying shows porous microstructure and favorable magnetic properties. The utilization of mPVA/AC CG for adsorptive removal of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes from water was investigated. The mPVA/AC CG not only exhibited good adsorption performance for both MB and MO dyes but also could be readily recycled using a magnet after adsorption. The adsorption process was well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. Considering the simple fabrication process, good adsorption performance and favorable magnetic separation capability, this work provides a viable strategy for combining the features of AC and magnetic gel for fabrication of applicable magnetic adsorbent.
Highlights
Dyes are widely used in the textile, paper, rubber, leather, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food and other industries [1,2]
The one-pot reaction for fabrication of mPVA/Activated carbon (AC) CG is based on the simultaneous formationThe of magnetic
Macromolecules and one-pot reaction for fabrication cross-linking of mPVA/ACof is based on the simultaneous formation of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles, cross-linking of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) macromolecules and inincorporation
Summary
Dyes are widely used in the textile, paper, rubber, leather, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food and other industries [1,2]. Magnetic adsorbents have emerged as a new generation of adsorbents for water purification because they can be separated from water by an external magnetic field [14,15] In this regard, the decoration of AC with magnetic nanoparticles to form magnetic AC adsorbent has been widely reported [16,17,18]. AC shows good magnetic separation capability and favorable adsorption performance towards various water pollutants (e.g., dyes and metal ions) [19,20], the preparation process is generally tedious and makes it difficult to achieve large-scale production. Schematic illustration ofone-pot the one-pot fabrication of magnetic poly(vinyl alcovated carbon composite gel CG). Photographs of aqueous solution of MO andMO hol)/activated carbon composite gel (mPVA/AC CG). (c) MB before (left) and after (right) adsorbing by mPVA/AC CG
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