Enhancing CO2 capture through innovating monolithic graphene oxide frameworks

The advancement and engineering of novel crystalline materials is facilitated through the utilization of innovative porous crystalline structures, established via KOH-treated monolithic graphene oxide frameworks. These materials exhibit remarkable and versatile characteristics for both functional exploration and applications within the realm of CO2 capture. In this comprehensive study, we have synthesized monolithic reduced graphene oxide-based adsorbents through a meticulous self-assembly process involving different mass ratios of GO/malic acid (MaA) (1:0.250, 1:0.500, and 1:1 by weight). Building upon this foundation, we further modified MGO 0.250 through KOH-treatment by chloroacetic acid method, leading to the creation of MGO 0.250_KOH, which was subjected to CO2 capture assessments. The comprehensive investigation encompassed an array of parameters including morphology, specific surface area, crystal defects, functional group identification, and CO2 capture efficiency. Employing a combination of FT-IR, XRD, Raman, BET, SEM, HR-TEM, and XPS techniques, the study revealed profound insights. Particularly notable was the observation that the MGO 0.250_KOH adsorbent exhibited an exceptional CO2 capture performance, leading to a significant enhancement of the CO2 capture capacity from 1.69 mmol g-1 to 2.35 mmol g-1 at standard conditions of 25 °C and 1 bar pressure. This performance enhancement was concomitant with an augmentation in surface area, elevating from 287.93 to 419.75 m2 g-1 (a nearly 1.5-fold increase compared to MGO 1.000 with a surface area of 287.93 m2 g-1). The monolithic adsorbent demonstrated a commendable production yield of 82.92%, along with an impressive regenerability of 98.80% at 100 °C. Additionally, adsorbent's proficiency in CO2 adsorption, rendering it a promising candidate for post-combustion CO2 capture applications. These findings collectively underscore the capacity adsorbents to significantly amplify CO2 capture capabilities. The viability of employing this strategy as an uncomplicated pre-treatment technique in various industrial sectors is a plausible prospect, given the study's outcomes.

Enhancing the catalytic behaviour of HKUST-1 by graphene oxide for phenol oxidation

The composites of graphite oxide (GrO) and the HKUST-1 framework were synthesized by the typical solvothermal method and applied as heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of phenol. XRD, FT-IR, Raman and SEM were conducted to characterize the samples. For catalytic oxidation of 150 mL 100 mg L^-1 phenol, the dose of 30 mg (0.2 g L^-1) catalysts and 0.46 mL H₂O₂ were kept constant. The GrO-3/HKUST-1 (3% content of GrO) showed higher catalytic activity than the HKUST-1 framework and other GrO/HKUST-1 composites with 99% phenol conversion and 86% COD removal efficiency were obtained at 50°C after 30 min and 8 h. The effect of temperature (40-80°C) and pH (4-9) on catalytic oxidation of phenol by GrO-3/HKUST-1 was investigated. The results showed that the degradation of phenol was obtained with optimum efficiency at 60°C with complete phenol conversion and 93% COD reduction. Furthermore, the acid and alkali resistance abilities were enhanced to a certain degree by the integration of GrO compared with the parent framework HKUST-1. Three successive runs were conducted in the natural pH (6.8) of 150 mL 100 mg L^-1 phenol solution which indicated that the synthesized GrO-3/HKUST-1 composite had satisfactory reusability due to the prevention of carbon deposit and negligible Cu²⁺ leaching (8 ppm). The GrO/HKUST-1 composite could be a kind of promising heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic degradation of organic compounds. Similar to other catalysts, the catalytic oxidation of phenol also relies on the formation of hydroxyl radicals.

Structural and proton conductivity studies of fibrous π-Ti2O(PO4)2·2H2O: application in chitosan-based composite membranes

Although the fibrous polymorphic modification of titanium phosphate, π-Ti2O(PO4)2·2H2O (π-TiP) has been known for decades, its crystal structure has remained unsolved. Herewith, we report the crystal structure of π-TiP at room temperature, as determined from synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction, and corroborated by 31P solid state NMR and accurate density functional theory calculations. In contrast to the previously reported ρ-TiP polymorph, the as-synthesized hydrated phase crystallizes in the monoclinic system (P21/c, a = 5.1121(2) Å, b = 14.4921(9) Å, c = 12.0450(11), β = 115.31(1)°, Z = 4), and is composed of corner-sharing titanium octahedra and phosphate units arranged in a pattern that is unique to the ρ-TiP polymorph. The unit cell was confirmed by electron diffraction, while the formation of planar packing imperfections and stacking faults along the [101] plane was revealed by HRTEM analysis. An in situ dehydration study of π-TiP, monitored by high-temperature powder X-ray diffraction, led to a new anhydrous monoclinic (P21/c, a = 5.1187(13) Å, b = 11.0600(21) Å, c = 14.4556(26), β = 107.65(2)°, Z = 4) phase that crystallizes at 500 °C. The latter resembles the packing fashion of the parental π-TiP, albeit titanium atoms are present in both distorted tetrahedral and octahedral coordination environments. Anhydrous π-TiP was found to partially rehydrate at room temperature, reversibly adopting the structure of the initial phase. The studies carried out under different conditions of leaching and impregnation with H3PO4 showed that π-TiP exhibits an extrinsic proton conductivity (1.3 × 10-3 S cm-1 at 90 °C and 95% RH) due to the presence of the protonated phosphate species bound on the particles surface, as revealed by 31P MAS-NMR spectroscopy data. The composite membranes of Chitosan (CS) matrices filled with H3PO4-impregnated π-TiP solid show an increment of proton conductivity up to 4.5 × 10-3 S cm-1, at 80 °C and 95% RH, which is 1.8-fold higher than those of the bare CS membranes.

Adsorption removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solution

In this review, the state of the art on the removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solution using adsorption technique is presented. The objective is to critically analyze different adsorbents available for malachite green dye removal. Hence, the available recent literature in the area is categorized according to the cost, feasibility, and availability of adsorbents. An extensive survey of the adsorbents, derived from various sources such as low cost biological materials, waste material from industry, agricultural waste, polymers, clays, nanomaterials, and magnetic materials, has been carried out. The review studies on different adsorption factors, such as pH, concentration, adsorbent dose, and temperature. The fitting of the adsorption data to various models, isotherms, and kinetic regimes is also reported.

Preparation of nanomaterials for the ultrasound-enhanced removal of Pb2+ ions and malachite green dye: Chemometric optimization and modeling

Copper oxide nanoparticle-loaded activated carbon (CuO-NP-AC) was synthesized and characterized using different techniques such as FE-SEM, XRD and FT-IR. It was successfully applied for the ultrasound-assisted simultaneous removal of Pb²⁺ ions and malachite green (MG) dye in binary system from aqueous solution. The effect of important parameters was modeled and optimized by artificial neural network (ANN) and response surface methodology (RSM). Maximum simultaneous removal percentages (>99.0%) were found at 25mgL^-1, 20mgL^-1, 0.02g, 5min and 6.0 corresponding to initial Pb²⁺ concentration, initial MG concentration, CuO-NP-AC amount, ultrasonication time and pH, respectively. The precision of the equation obtained by RSM was confirmed by the analysis of variance and calculation of correlation coefficient relating the predicted and the experimental values of ultrasound-assisted simultaneous removal of the analytes. A good agreement between experimental and predicted values was observed. A feed-forward neural network with a topology optimized by response surface methodology was successfully applied for the prediction of ultrasound-assisted simultaneous removal of Pb²⁺ ions and MG dye in binary system by CuO-NPs-AC. The number of hidden neurons, MSE, R², number of epochs and error histogram were chosen for ANN modeling. Then, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and D-R isothermal models were applied for fitting the experimental data. It was found that the Langmuir model well describes the isotherm data with a maximum adsorption capacity of 98.328 and 87.719mgg^-1 for Pb²⁺ and MG, respectively. Kinetic studies at optimum condition showed that maximum Pb²⁺ and MG adsorption is achieved within 5min of the start of most experiments. The combination of pseudo-second-order rate equation and intraparticle diffusion model was applicable to explain the experimental data of ultrasound-assisted simultaneous removal of Pb²⁺ and MG at optimum condition obtained from RSM.

Experimental design and modeling of ultrasound assisted simultaneous adsorption of cationic dyes onto ZnS: Mn-NPs-AC from binary mixture

The manganese impregnated zinc sulfide nanoparticles deposited on activated carbon (ZnS: Mn-NPs-AC) which fully was synthesized and characterized successfully applied for simultaneous removal of malachite green and methylene blue in binary situation. The effects of variables such as pH (2.0-10.0), sonication time (1-5min), adsorbent mass (0.005-0.025g) and MB and MG concentration (4-20mgL(-1)) on their removal efficiency was studied dy central composite design (CCD) to correlate dyes removal percentage to above mention variables that guides amongst the maximum influence was seen by changing the sonication time and adsorbent mass. Sonication time, adsorbent mass and pH in despite of dyes concentrations has positive relation with removal percentage. Multiple regression analysis of the experimental results is associated with 3-D response surface and contour plots that guide setting condition at pH of 7.0, 3min sonication time, 0.025g Mn: ZnS-NPs-AC and 15mgL(-1) of MB and MG lead to achievement of removal efficiencies of 99.87% and 98.56% for MG and MB, respectively. The pseudo-second-order model as best choice efficiency describe the dyes adsorption behavior, while MG and MB maximum adsorption capacity according to Langmuir was 202.43 and 191.57mgg(-1).

Synthesis of magnetic γ-Fe2O3-based nanomaterial for ultrasonic assisted dyes adsorption: Modeling and optimization

γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized and loaded on activated carbon. The prepared nanomaterial was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticle-loaded activated carbon (γ-Fe2O3-NPs-AC) was used as novel adsorbent for the ultrasonic-assisted removal of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG). Response surface methodology and artificial neural network were applied to model and optimize the adsorption of the MB and MG in their individual and binary solutions followed by the investigation on adsorption isotherm and kinetics. The individual effects of parameters such as pH, mass of adsorbent, ultrasonication time as well as MB and MG concentrations in addition to the effects of their possible interactions on the adsorption process were investigated. The numerical optimization revealed that the optimum adsorption (>99.5% for each dye) is obtained at 0.02g, 15mgL(-1), 4min and 7.0 corresponding to the adsorbent mass, each dye concentration, sonication time and pH, respectively. The Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms were studied. The Langmuir was found to be most applicable isotherm which predicted maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of 195.55 and 207.04mgg(-1) for the adsorption of MB and MG, respectively. The pseudo-second order model was found to be applicable for the adsorption kinetics. Blank experiments (without any adsorbent) were run to investigate the possible degradation of the dyes studied in presence of ultrasonication. No dyes degradation was observed.