Highly-efficient and recyclable Bi2O2CO3 adsorbent achieved by surfactant modification and its application in pollutant removal

Abstract

Herein we have developed a highly efficient and recyclable Bi2O2CO3 (BOC) adsorbent by introducing different surfactants during the hydrothermal synthesis of BOC nanostructures. It is demonstrated that the CTAB modified BOC sample (termed as BOC-CTAB) exhibits the highest adsorption performance for removing organic pollutants and Cr(VI) ions. More interestingly, the developed BOC adsorbent can be easily regenerated via a simple photodegradation process and exhibits excellent reusability. The adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics of methyl orange (MO) and Cr(VI) onto the BOC-CTAB adsorbent were systematically investigated. The effect of adsorbent dosage, MO concentration and temperature on the adsorption of MO onto BOC-CTAB was predicted by response surface methodology (RSM). Moreover, the adsorption performance of BOC-CTAB towards various organic pollutants at different acidic-alkaline environments was further compared; among them, the strongest adsorption is observed for congo red (CR) with qe(pH 2) = 962 mg g−1.