One-step carbonization/activation synthesis of chitosan-based porous sheet-like carbon and studies of adsorptive removal for Rhodamine B

Ling Wu; Shuang Qi; Tingwei Zhang; Yongcan Jin; Huining Xiao

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121832

One-step carbonization/activation synthesis of chitosan-based porous sheet-like carbon and studies of adsorptive removal for Rhodamine B

Carbohydr Polym. 2024 Apr 15:330:121832. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121832. Epub 2024 Jan 19.

Authors

Ling Wu¹, Shuang Qi¹, Tingwei Zhang², Yongcan Jin³, Huining Xiao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. Electronic address: ztwei@njfu.edu.cn.
³ Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. Electronic address: jinyongcan@njfu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada.

PMID: 38368087
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121832

Abstract

In this work, new N, O-codoped chitosan-derived carbon adsorbents (CKC-x, x refer to the calcination temperature) were synthesized over a simple process of chitosan-KOH aerogel production and simultaneous carbonization/activation of the aerogel. CKC-700 was characterized by sheet-like morphology (even containing a portion of carbon nano-sheet of 3 nm thickness), high porosity and specific surface area (1702.1 m²/g), and pyridinic/pyrrolic/graphitic N groups. The simultaneous carbonization/activation of chitosan-KOH aerogel prepared by top-down coagulation of chitosan aqueous solution by KOH aqueous solution rendered these beneficial characteristics. CKC-700 exhibited a superior adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B (RhB) to other chitosan-derived carbon adsorbents, and the maximum adsorption capacity for RhB of 594 mg/g was achieved at 55 °C. CKC-700 also possessed reasonable reusability for the removal of RhB, and the removal efficiency was still above 95 % in the fifth cycle. The effects of adsorption temperature and time, adsorbent dose, organic dye concentration, and solution pH on the adsorption capacity of CKC-700 were studied. Moreover, the adsorption isotherm, kinetics, thermodynamics, and the adsorption mechanism of RhB on CKC-700 were discussed. In addition, CKC-700 also showed favorable adsorption performance for methylene blue (441 mg/g), methyl orange (457 mg/g), and congo red (500 mg/g) at around 25 °C.

Keywords: Adsorption; Chitosan derived porous carbon; Nano-sheet; Rhodamine B.