Abstract
The rational treatment of hazardous textile sludge is critical and challenging for the environment and a sustainable future. Here, a water-soluble chitosan derivative was synthesized and used as an effective flocculant in removal of reactive dye from aqueous solution. Employing these chitosan-containing textile sludges as precursors, graphene-like carbon nanosheets were synthesized through simple one-step carbonization with the use of Fe (III) salt as graphitization catalyst. It was found that the resultant graphene-like carbon nanosheets material at thickness near 3.2 nm (NSC-Fe-2) showed a high graphitization degree, high specific surface area, and excellent bifunctional electrochemical performance. As-prepared NSC-Fe-2 catalyst exhibited excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity (onset potential 1.05 V) and a much better methanol tolerance than that of commercial Pt/C (onset potential 0.98 V) in an alkaline medium. Additionally, as electrode materials for supercapacitors, NSC-Fe-2 also displayed an outstanding specific capacitance of 195 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and superior cycling stability (loss of 3.4% after 2500 cycles). The good electrochemical properties of the as-prepared NSC-Fe materials could be attributed to the ultrathin graphene-like nanosheets structure and synergistic effects from codoping of iron and nitrogen. This work develops a simple but effective strategy for direct conversion of textile sewage sludge to value-added graphene-like carbon, which is considered as a promising alternative to fulfill the requirements of environment and energy.
Highlights
Reactive dyestuffs have attracted a great deal of interest for textile dyeing industry in recent years due to its highly saturated color, good wet fastness, and brightness [1,2]
A number of studies have demonstrated that chitosan, a natural cationic polymer, can be used as an effective flocculant to purify wastewater, with respect to textile wastewater containing anionic reactive dyes [19]. Utilizing this chitosan-containing textile sludge as precursors, graphene-like carbon nanosheets are more likely to be produce on a large scale and at low cost
When the optimum concentration was exceeded, the existence of superfluous protonated amine groups on the flocculant led to restabilization of the suspension [21], which caused a lower removal rate and higher zeta potential (ZP)
Summary
Reactive dyestuffs have attracted a great deal of interest for textile dyeing industry in recent years due to its highly saturated color, good wet fastness, and brightness [1,2]. Because the activated carbon has been known as perfect adsorption ability for organic compounds, many researchers are paying attention to synthesizing activated carbons from textile sewage sludge by physiochemical activation [12] These sludge-derived porous carbon materials are widely used in environmental management as a low adsorbent [13]. A number of studies have demonstrated that chitosan, a natural cationic polymer, can be used as an effective flocculant to purify wastewater, with respect to textile wastewater containing anionic reactive dyes [19] Utilizing this chitosan-containing textile sludge as precursors, graphene-like carbon nanosheets are more likely to be produce on a large scale and at low cost. The strategy of textile sludge conversion to value-added graphene-like carbon is considered as a promising alternative to fulfill the requirements of environment and energy
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