Hierarchical Nanohexagon Ceramic Sheet Layers as Platform Adsorbents for Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Insecticides from Agricultural Wastewater.

Abstract

Hierarchical mesoporous and macroporous nanohexagon NiO sheets were fabricated via a hydrothermal-guided synthesis route. This approach provided uniformly nanohexagonal ceramic sheets (with sizes of approximately 250-300 nm) having NiO active sites throughout the interior/exterior. The ceramic sheets with well-dispersed pore windows serve as significant platform-like adsorbents for the adsorption and recovery of a wide range of insecticides. A nanohexagon sheet adsorbent can accommodate insecticide molecules into the pore cavities or between the layer matrices which are directly accessible. The heterogeneous processing efficiency of insecticide adsorption was examined with a single ceramic sheet of the adsorbent at neutral pH and described in terms of the amount of uptake, removal of the multiple insecticide contaminants, and reusability. Experimental findings indicated that the platform-like adsorbent effectively removed >95 % of the insecticide toxins in a one-step batch adsorption process. Significantly, the complete recovery of multiple insecticide toxins from water sources could be achieved while maintaining the hierarchical hexagon sheet layered structures, thereby indicating its applicability for more than 20 reuse cycles. These nanohexagon sheet adsorbents can potentially satisfy the increasing need for the removal of hydrophilic and hydrophobic insecticides such as carbamates and organochlorines, respectively, from agriculture wastewater.