Cellulose nanocrystal-based polymer hydrogel embedded with iron oxide nanorods for efficient arsenic removal

Ting Su; Xinxing Zhang; Zhiru Wang; Yu Guo; Xueyang Wei; Bin Xu; Hengtong Xia; Wenzhong Yang; Hui Xu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121855

Cellulose nanocrystal-based polymer hydrogel embedded with iron oxide nanorods for efficient arsenic removal

Carbohydr Polym. 2024 May 1:331:121855. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121855. Epub 2024 Jan 26.

Authors

Ting Su¹, Xinxing Zhang¹, Zhiru Wang¹, Yu Guo¹, Xueyang Wei¹, Bin Xu², Hengtong Xia¹, Wenzhong Yang¹, Hui Xu³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Advanced Synthesis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.
² Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing 210042, China.
³ Institute of Advanced Synthesis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China. Electronic address: ias_hxu@njtech.edu.cn.

PMID: 38388053
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121855

Abstract

A cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) polymer hydrogel containing magnetic iron oxide nanorods (Fe₃O₄NRs) was prepared for As(III) removal in water. Systematic studies on the performance of these prepared CNC-based composite hydrogels for the removal of As(III) have been undertaken. The maximum adsorption capacity of the CNC-g-PAA/qP4VP (CPqP) hydrogel was 241.3 mg/g. After introduction of Fe₃O₄NRs in the hydrogel, the maximum adsorption capacity of the resulting Fe₃O₄NRs@CNC-g-PAA/qP4VP (FN@CPqP) hydrogel was further improved to 263.0 mg/g. The high adsorption performance can be attributed to the facts that the 3D interconnected porous network of the hydrogel allows As species to easily enter into the hydrogel, the quaternized P4VP chains provides more adsorption sites, Fe₃O₄NRs uniformly distributed in the internal cavity of the hydrogel significantly reduces the nanoparticle aggregation. The adsorption kinetics indicated that the adsorption of arsenic by the hydrogel was mainly chemisorption. The isotherm analysis revealed that the adsorption of arsenic by the hydrogel was principally monolayer adsorption on a homogeneous surface. Moreover, the as-prepared CNC-based polymer hydrogels exhibited good stability and reusability with negligible performance loss after five adsorption-desorption cycles. The novel FN@CPqP hydrogel demonstrates great potential as a cost-effective adsorbent for the removal of arsenic contaminants from wastewater.

Keywords: Arsenic; Cellulose nanocrystal; Hydrogel; Iron oxide nanorods; Poly(4-vinylpyridine).