Abstract
The influence of preparation conditions of the graphene foams on their physicochemical properties is shown. Different graphene aerogels were obtained from various graphene oxide water suspensions using the hydrothermal method (with or without the addition of acrylic microemulsion and varying in drying time—24 and 48 h). Prolonged drying of the hydrogels resulted in smaller pores in the foams. The composition of graphene oxide (GO) and acrylic polymer water suspensions leads to the smallest surface area which is due to the closing of the pores of the composite structure. Thermal treatment of samples at 950 °C removed the polymer residues. The heating process increased the surface area and the total pore volume of all samples, which were used to test the graphene foams (GFs) for adsorption of n-hexane. These tests have shown that the most effective samples for n-hexane adsorption were the samples where for the preparation of the composite GO and acrylic resin were used. The best of obtained samples adsorbed 415 mg g−1 of n-hexane which is a better result than for activated carbon manufactured from natural cork. Further preparation and modification of graphene foams could result in a significant increase in their sorption properties and could be used for contaminated air purification in the nearest future.
Highlights
Graphene gained a lot of attention in recent years due to its unique properties, such as high mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity or high specific surface area [1]
Addition of the acrylic polymer to graphene oxide (GO) suspension (Acrylic/graphene foams (GFs) 24 h) resulted in the smallest surface area which was due to filling the pores with the polymer
The heating process increased the surface area and total volume in pores in all the samples, which was used to test the graphene foams for adsorption of n-hexane
Summary
Graphene gained a lot of attention in recent years due to its unique properties, such as high mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity or high specific surface area (up to 2630 m 2 g−1) [1]. Due to its high surface area, graphene materials could be used as adsorbents for many different pollutants, such as dyes or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Adsorbents with surface areas up to ~ 1900 m2 g−1 and total pore volume up to 1.65 cm3 g−1 were fabricated using the same method of KOH activation of exfoliated GO in another work [10]. These examples demonstrate significant potential of graphene-based materials in the field of environmental protection. We studied different preparation processes and their effect on the structure, chemical composition, surface area and hexane sorption properties of the obtained graphene foams. The preparation process of these materials is simple and scalable, which means it could be applied commercially for adsorption of VOCs, especially n-hexane
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