Synthesis of porous carbon nanomaterials and their application in tetracycline removal from aqueous solutions

Abstract

The low-cost and efficient elimination of tetracycline from wastewater and to decrease the concentration in soils, sediments, rivers, underground water, or lakes are crucial to human health. Herein, three-dimensional porous carbon nanomaterials were synthesized using glucose and NH4Cl by sugar-blowing process at 900 °C and then oxidized under air atmosphere for surface functional group modification. The prepared 3D porous carbon nanomaterials were applied for the removal of tetracycline from aqueous solutions. The sorption isotherms were well simulated by the Langmuir model, with the calculated sorption capacity of 2378 mg·g−1 for C-450 at pH = 6.5, which was the highest value of today’s reported materials. The porous carbon nanomaterials showed high stability at acidic conditions and selectivity in high salt concentrations. The good recycle ability and high removal efficiency of tetracycline from natural groundwater indicated the potential application of the porous carbon nanomaterials in natural environmental antibiotic pollution cleanup. The outstanding sorption properties were attributed to the structures, surface areas and functional groups, strong interactions such as H-bonding, π-π interaction, electrostatic attraction, etc. This paper highlighted the synthesis of porous carbon nanomaterials with high specific surfaces, high sorption capacities, stability, and reusability in organic chemicals’ pollution treatment.