New amino group functionalized porous carbon for strong chelation ability towards toxic heavy metals

Zakaria Anfar; Abdallah Amedlous; Mohammed Majdoub; Abdellah Ait El Fakir; Mohamed Zbair; Hassan Ait Ahsaine; Amane Jada; Noureddine El Alem

doi:10.1039/d0ra05220e

New amino group functionalized porous carbon for strong chelation ability towards toxic heavy metals

RSC Adv. 2020 Aug 21;10(52):31087-31100. doi: 10.1039/d0ra05220e.

Authors

Zakaria Anfar^{1

2

3}, Abdallah Amedlous⁴, Mohammed Majdoub⁴, Abdellah Ait El Fakir^{1

2}, Mohamed Zbair⁵, Hassan Ait Ahsaine^{6

7}, Amane Jada^{2

3}, Noureddine El Alem¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Materials & Environment (LME), Ibn Zohr University Agadir 80000 Morocco zakaria.anfar@uha.fr.
² Institute of Materials Science of Mulhouse (IS2M-CNRS), Haute Alsace University (UHA) Mulhouse 68100 France amane.jada@uha.fr.
³ Strasbourg University Strasbourg 67081 France.
⁴ Laboratory of Materials, Catalysis & Valorization of Natural Resources, Hassan II University Casablanca 20650 Morocco.
⁵ Laboratory of Catalysis & Materials Corrosion. Chouaib Doukkali University El Jadida 24000 Morocco.
⁶ Chemical and Biochemical Sciences (CBS), Mohamed VI Polytechnic University Lot 660-Hay Moulay Rachid Benguerir Morocco.
⁷ Laboratoire de Chimie Appliquée des Matériaux, Centre des Sciences des Matériaux, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V University Rabat Morocco.

Abstract

Herein, ethylenediamine functionalized porous carbon (PC-ED/1.5) was synthesized, then characterized by various methods and finally used as a functional material for Cu(ii) and Pb(ii) ion removal from water. XPS revealed the presence of numerous functionalities within the surface of PC including -NH and C-N-C groups. Furthermore, S _BET, RS, XRD and FTIR analyses confirmed the changes implemented on the PC surface. Thereafter, a systematic study was implemented to analyze the interactions of the PC-ED/1.5 surface with Cu(ii) and Pb(ii) heavy metal ions. Hence, adsorption experiments showed that the PC-ED/1.5 exhibits maximum adsorption capacities of 123.45 mg g^-1 and 140.84 mg g^-1 for Cu(ii) and Pb(ii), respectively. Moreover, in situ electrostatic interactions occurring between the divalent cation and the PC-ED/1.5 functional groups was investigated. The mechanism involves chelation processes, electrostatic interactions and mechanical trapping of the metal ions in the adsorbent pores. Interestingly, a synergistic effect of the pores and surface active sites was observed. Finally, by using alginate bio-polymer we prepared membrane films of PC-ED/1.5 which showed long-term stability, regeneration capabilities and high mass recovery.