The formation of supramolecular carbon nanofiber via amidation reaction on the surface of amino single walled carbon nanotubes for selective adsorption organic pollutants

Abstract

The linear O-carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin polymer functionalized-amino single walled carbon nanotubes (LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs) supramolecular carbon nanofiber was prepared via amidation reaction. Surprisingly, AFM analysis indicated the width of the prepared well-defined supramolecular carbon nanofibers (SCNFs) was over 120 nm. Meanwhile, the height of the LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofiber is within 26.5 nm, which is 1.36 times higher than that of pristine ASWCNTs. Additionally, SEM and HRTEM analysis indicated that the linear O-carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin polymer (LCMP-β-CD) molecules were anchored on amino single walled carbon nanotubes (ASWCNTs) and fully cover its surface. We observed that the specific surface area of LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofibers was 679.3 m2/g, while that of pristine ASWCNTs was 113.5 m2/g. As expected, the specific surface area of LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofibers was 6-fold larger compared with that of the pristine ASWCNTs. More importantly, LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofiber possesses selective adsorption capacity for organic pollutants. Besides, the regeneration sorption and desorption experiments showed that the LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofibers possessed good reproducibility and durability. Overall, these results indicated that the LCMP-β-CD-ASWCNTs supramolecular carbon nanofibers could potentially serve as selective adsorption material.