Facile One-Pot Bottom–Up Synthesis of Graphene and Ni/Graphene Nanostructures and Their Excellent Adsorption Performances

Abstract

In this paper, a facile one-pot bottom-up approach for the preparation of graphene and Ni/graphene nanostructures at normal pressure and low temperature (150[Formula: see text]C) has been developed. The graphene and Ni/graphene nanostructures were prepared by reducing hexachloro-benzene (C6Cl[Formula: see text] with potassium in [Formula: see text]-tetradecane (C[Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text] solution without the presence of a catalyst. Meanwhile, the effect of Ni content on the specific surface area (SSA) of the final products was investigated. The testing results display that the as-prepared samples have large SSA and high C/O ratio, implying that the designed synthesis method is simple and efficient. To evaluate the adsorption performances of the samples, we select organic dye rhodamine B (RhB) as the model organic contaminant in aqueous solutions. The experimental results show that the samples possess high adsorption capacity ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mg g[Formula: see text], ultrafast adsorption rate ([Formula: see text]%, 2[Formula: see text]min), high adsorption efficiency ([Formula: see text]%) and good chemical stability in a wide pH range (2–11), high salt tolerance ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mg mL[Formula: see text], and good reusability ([Formula: see text]%, 9 cycles) for dye RhB from water. In particular, the samples exhibit a good property for the treatment of the raw industrial wastewater (RIW).