Based on the large specific surface area and excellent adsorption potential of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) materials, a GQDs@ZIF-8 composite was constructed to achieve optimal matching of the microstructure and to acquire efficient adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). GQDs and ZIF-8 were synthesized and then compounded by the solution co-deposition method to obtain GQDs@ZIF-8 composites. GQDs were uniformly decorated on the surface of the ZIF-8 metal-organic framework (MOF), effectively restraining the agglomeration, improving the thermal stability of ZIF-8 and forming abundant active sites. Thus, the VOC removal percentage and adsorption capacity of the GQDs@ZIF-8 composites were significantly improved. Toluene and ethyl acetate were chosen as simulated VOC pollutants to test the adsorption performance of the composites. The results showed that, after the addition of GQDs, the adsorption property of GQDs@ZIF-8 composites for toluene and ethyl acetate was obviously improved, with maximum adsorption capacities of 552.31 mg/g and 1408.59 mg/g, respectively, and maximum removal percentages of 80.25% and 93.78%, respectively, revealing extremely high adsorption performance. Compared with raw ZIF-8, the maximum adsorption capacities of the composites for toluene and ethyl acetate were increased by 53.82 mg/g and 104.56 mg/g, respectively. The kinetics and isotherm study revealed that the adsorption processes were in accordance with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm model. The thermodynamic results indicated that the adsorption process of the GQDs@ZIF-8 composites was a spontaneous, endothermic and entropy increase process. This study provides a new way to explore MOF-based adsorption materials with high adsorption capacity which have broad application prospects in VOC removal fields.
Keywords: ZIF-8; adsorption; composite; ethyl acetate; graphene quantum dot; toluene; volatile organic compounds.