Preparation and properties of CA/ATP- g-CDs gel fibers for simultaneous detection and adsorption of methylene blue

Fengying Dai; Mengjuan Wen; Jinna Wang; Wenzhe Jiang; Xuetao Tian; Yao Dong; Yiping Zhao; Li Chen

doi:10.1039/c8ra01324a

Preparation and properties of CA/ATP- g-CDs gel fibers for simultaneous detection and adsorption of methylene blue

RSC Adv. 2018 Jun 20;8(40):22577-22582. doi: 10.1039/c8ra01324a. eCollection 2018 Jun 19.

Authors

Fengying Dai¹, Mengjuan Wen¹, Jinna Wang¹, Wenzhe Jiang¹, Xuetao Tian¹, Yao Dong¹, Yiping Zhao¹, Li Chen¹

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University Tianjin 300387 China.

Abstract

To detect and adsorb methylene blue (MB) from wastewater simultaneously, a solid fluorescent and absorbent material was designed by immobilizing attapulgite (ATP) on calcium alginate (CA) and reacting with carbon dots (CDs) which were modified by the activation of γ-(2,3-epoxypropoxy) propyltrimethoxysilane (KH-560), then the CA/ATP-g-CDs gel fibers were prepared. The problem of CDs easily falling out of materials was solved. The structures of the gel fibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), specific surface area (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The thermal properties were analyzed by thermogravimetry (TG). The adsorption capacity was measured and the effect of initial pH was investigated. The results showed that ATP was successfully reacted with CA and the adsorption capacity was enhanced with the increase of the pH value. CA/ATP-g-CDs gel fibers were favorable materials to detect and adsorb MB simultaneously, and MB could be adsorbed by gel fibers and also the fluorescence of CA/ATP-g-CDs was weakened. At low concentrations of MB (1 μg L^-1), the removal efficiency could even be as high as 100%.