Grafted polymeric organogel using low molecular weight gelator as an effective medium for expulsion and purification of cationic dyes and organic pollutants from contaminated surface water

Abstract

An increase in water pollution is a major concern for the safety of living organisms. The present work revolves around synthesizing an organogel capable of absorbing contaminated pollutants like solvents and removing cationic dyes from water surfaces. The organogel prepared using a LMWG (low molecular weight gelator) was characterized using FT-IR, SEM, NMR, TGA, and XRD spectra. Water contact angle determination was also carried out to observe the hydrophobicity. Swelling kinetics, adsorption isotherm, and intra-particle diffusion model are reported after the respective absorption and adsorption study by the gel. The highest swelling was observed in Acetic acid with swelling of 10 times its original weight. Adsorption of dyes exhibited the highest removal efficiency of 99.35% within 60 min. The organogel holds the capability to reuse dye solutions for up to 10 cycles while also holding the capacity to remove from a binary mixture of dyes. The prepared organogel serves as a potential adsorbent for environmental remediation with the potential of maximum swelling and selectivity for cationic dyes.