Fabrication of sodium alginate-doped carbon dot composite hydrogel and its application for La (III) adsorption and enhanced the removal of phosphorus

Abstract

Adsorption is an effective method for the removal of hazardous substances from wastewater. In this work, a low-cost and environmental-friendly composite hydrogel material of sodium alginate doped with nitrogen doped carbon dots (SA@NCDs) was fabricated by impregnation for lanthanide and enhanced phosphorus adsorption in wastewater. The effects of NCDs doping amount, dosage, pH, initial solution concentration, adsorption time and temperature on the process of La (III) adsorption by SA@NCDs were investigated. The adsorption isotherms fitted to Langmuir isotherm model (R² = 0.9970-0.9989) and the adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R² = 0.9992). The maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for La (III) was 217.39 mg/g according to the Langmuir model at 298.15 K. After five cycles, the removal efficiency of La (III) adsorbed by SA@NCDs was still 85.1%. Moreover, the loaded La (III) enhanced the adsorption of phosphorus. The La (III)-SA@NCDs-5 hydrogel adsorbent greatly improved the adsorption capacity for phosphorus compared with the La (III)-free adsorbent, and the adsorption amount can reach 9.64 mg-P/g. The SA@NCDs complex hydrogels for rare earth adsorption were prepared by introducing NCDs rich in amino group into SA hydrogels. The introduction of NCDs increases the adsorption sites of hydrogels, and also overcomes the problem that NCDs itself is difficult to recover in wastewater treatment applications. The lanthanide adsorbed material has a stable structure and can be used to remove phosphorus to deal with waste using the waste. It indicates the SA@NCDs hydrogel composite adsorbent have good potential for wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Adsorption mechanism; Carbon dots; Hydrogel; Lanthanum; Phosphorus; Sodium alginate.