Biomass-Tuned Reduced Graphene Oxide@Zn/Cu: Benign Materials for the Cleanup of Selected Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs in Water

Ajibola A Bayode; Mercy T Folorunso; Brigitte Helmreich; Martins O Omorogie

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c07769

Biomass-Tuned Reduced Graphene Oxide@Zn/Cu: Benign Materials for the Cleanup of Selected Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs in Water

ACS Omega. 2023 Feb 14;8(8):7956-7967. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c07769. eCollection 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

Ajibola A Bayode^{1

2

3}, Mercy T Folorunso¹, Brigitte Helmreich⁴, Martins O Omorogie^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Redeemer's University, P.M.B. 230, 232101 Ede, Nigeria.
² Laboratório de Química Analítica Ambiental e Ecotoxicologia (LaQuAAE), Departamento de Química e Física Molecular, Instituto de Química de Sao Carlos, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Avenida Trabalhador Sãocarlense 400, 13566-590 São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
³ Innovative Materials and Processes for Advanced Environmental Clean Technologies (IMPACT) Research Group Laboratory, Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, 35122 Padua, Italy.
⁴ Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Am Coulombwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany.

Abstract

The persistent increase in the amount of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen (IBP) and diclofenac (DCF) in water bodies is alarming, thereby calling for a need to be addressed. To address this challenge, a bimetallic (copper and zinc) plantain-based adsorbent (CZPP) and reduced graphene oxide modified form (CZPPrgo) was prepared by facile synthesis for the removal of ibuprofen (IBP) and diclofenac (DCF) in water. Both the CZPP and CZPPrgo were characterized by different techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and pH_pzc analysis. FTIR and XRD confirmed the successful synthesis of the CZPP and CZPPrgo. The adsorption of the contaminants was carried out in a batch system, and several operational variables were optimized. The adsorption is affected by the initial concentration of the pollutants (5-30 mg·L^-1), the adsorbent dose (0.05-0.20 g), and pH (2.0-12.0). The CZPPrgo has the best performance with maximum adsorption capacities of 148 and 146 mg·g^-1 for removing IBP and DCF from water, respectively. The experimental data were fitted into different kinetic and isotherm models; the removal of IBP and DCF follows the pseudo-second order, which can be best explained by the Freundlich isotherm model. The reuse efficiency was above 80% even after four adsorption cycles. This shows that the CZPPrgo is a promising adsorbent for removing IBP and DCF in water.