Is the interaction between graphene oxide and minerals reversible?

Atomistic insights into migration mechanism of graphene-based membranes on soil mineral phases

Graphene-based membranes (GBM) will migrate in the soil and enter the groundwater system or plant roots, which will eventually pose potential risks to human beings. The migration mechanism of GBM depends on the interface behavior of complex soil components. Herein, we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to probe the interface behavior between GBM and three type minerals (quartz, calcite and kaolinite). Based on the investigation of binding energy, maximum pulling force and barrier energy, the order of the difficulty of GBM adsorption and desorption on the three minerals from small to large is roughly: quartz, calcite and kaolinite respectively. The graphene-oxide (GO), improves the binding energy and energy barrier, making GBM difficult to migrate in soil. Remarkably, a larger GBM sheet and high velocity external load improve GBM migration in soil to a certain extent. These investigations give the dynamic information on the GBM/mineral interaction and provide nanoscale insights into the migration mechanisms of GBM in soil.

A critical review on the role of abiotic factors on the transformation, environmental identity and toxicity of engineered nanomaterials in aquatic environment

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are at the forefront of many technological breakthroughs in science and engineering. The extensive use of ENMs in several consumer products has resulted in their release to the aquatic environment. ENMs entering the aquatic ecosystem undergo a dynamic transformation as they interact with organic and inorganic constituents present in aquatic environment, specifically abiotic factors such as NOM and clay minerals, and attain an environmental identity. Thus, a greater understanding of ENM-abiotic factors interactions is required for an improved risk assessment and sustainable management of ENMs contamination in the aquatic environment. This review integrates fundamental aspects of ENMs transformation in aquatic environment as impacted by abiotic factors, and delineates the recent advances in bioavailability and ecotoxicity of ENMs in relation to risk assessment for ENMs-contaminated aquatic ecosystem. It specifically discusses the mechanism of transformation of different ENMs (metals, metal oxides and carbon based nanomaterials) following their interaction with the two most common abiotic factors NOM and clay minerals present within the aquatic ecosystem. The review critically discusses the impact of these mechanisms on the altered ecotoxicity of ENMs including the impact of such transformation at the genomic level. Finally, it identifies the gaps in our current understanding of the role of abiotic factors on the transformation of ENMs and paves the way for the future research areas.

Adsorption Properties and Mechanism of Attapulgite to Graphene Oxide in Aqueous Solution

In order to remove toxic graphene oxide (GO) from aqueous solution, attapulgite (ATP) was used as adsorbent to recycle it by adsorption. In this paper, the effects of different pH, adsorbent mass, GO concentration, time and temperature on the adsorption of GO by attapulgite were studied, and the adsorption performance and mechanism were further explored by XRD, AFM, XPS, FTIR, TEM and SEM tests. The results show that when T = 303 K, pH = 3, and the GO concentration is 100 mg/L in 50 mL of aqueous solution, the removal rate of GO by 40 mg of attapulgite reaches 92.83%, and the partition coefficient K_d reaches 16.31. The adsorption kinetics results showed that the adsorption equilibrium was reached at 2160 min, and the adsorption process could be described by the pseudo-second-order adsorption equation, indicating that the adsorption process was accompanied by chemical adsorption and physical adsorption. The isotherm and thermodynamic parameters show that the adsorption of GO by attapulgite is more consistent with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the reaction is a spontaneous endothermic process. The analysis shows that attapulgite is a good material for removing GO, which can provide a reference for the removal of GO in an aqueous environment.

The detection and characterization techniques for the interaction between graphene oxide and natural colloids: A review

The high dispersibility of graphene oxide (GO) and the universality of natural colloids (clay minerals, (hydr)oxides of Al, Fe, silica, etc.) make them interact easily. Many kinds of analytical methods have been used to study the interaction between GO and natural colloids. This review provides a comprehensive overview of analytical methods for the detection and quantification of interaction process. We highlighted the influence of the most relevant environmental factors (ionic strength, pH, etc.) on batch experiment, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring measurements, and column experiments. Besides, the benefits and drawbacks of spectroscopic, microscopic techniques, theoretical models, calculation and time-resolved dynamic light scattering methods also have discussed in this work. This review can give some guidance to researchers in their selection and combination of the technique for the research of the interaction between GO and natural colloids.

Role of solution chemistry in the attachment of graphene oxide nanoparticles onto iron oxide minerals with different characteristics

Given the ubiquity and abundance of the iron oxide minerals and their important roles in affecting the environmental fate of graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles, the attachment of GO onto three iron oxide minerals (i.e., hematite, goethite, and ferrihydrite) under different solution chemistry conditions was investigated in this study. The main mechanism of the attachment of GO was electrostatic interaction. Calculations based on the DLVO theory showed that the attachment was a favorable process. Interestingly, the affinity of GO towards three iron oxide minerals was in the order of ferrihydrite > goethite > hematite. This result indicates that different characteristics of various iron oxides (e.g., specific surface area, crystal structure, and surface charge, and surface hydroxyl densities) can influence their attachment capacities for GO. The attachment of GO depended on the solution pH and ionic strength. Electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding were the important retention mechanisms for GO attachment when pH < pH_PZC (the point of zero charge) and pH > pH_PZC, respectively. The attachment capacities of iron oxides decreased with increasing ionic strength at lower pH because of the decrease of the electrostatic attraction. Meanwhile, the presence of divalent cations (i.e., Ca²⁺ and Cu²⁺) could significantly promote GO attachment mainly by the surface-bridging mechanism. Meanwhile, the enhancement effect of Cu²⁺ was greater than Ca²⁺ due to the greater complexation affinity of Cu²⁺. Furthermore, attachment isotherms showed that the presence of phosphate could inhibit the attachment of GO onto minerals obviously. Because phosphate could form inner-sphere surface complex on the iron oxide surface, and consequently decreased the electrostatic attraction between nanoparticles and minerals. Our study has important implications for predicting the fate of GO in natural environment where amounts of iron oxide minerals are present.

One dimensional hierarchical nanoflakes with nickel-immobilization for high performance catalysis and histidine-rich protein adsorption

Herein, we described a facile strategy for the controllable synthesis of three dimensional hierarchical nickel based composites, which exhibited excellent performance on catalysis and protein adsorption.