1 research outputs found
β‑FeOOH Nanorods/Carbon Foam-Based Hierarchically Porous Monolith for Highly Effective Arsenic Removal
Arsenic pollution
in waters has become a worldwide issue, constituting a severe hazard
to whole ecosystems and public health worldwide. Accordingly, it is
highly desirable to design
high-performance adsorbents for arsenic decontamination. Herein, a
feasible strategy is developed for in situ growth of β-FeOOH
nanorods (NRs) on a three-dimensional (3D) carbon foam (CF) skeleton
via a simple calcination process and subsequent hydrothermal treatment.
The as-fabricated 3D β-FeOOH NRs/CF monolith can be innovatively
utilized for arsenic remediation from contaminated aqueous systems,
accompanied by remarkably high uptake capacity of 103.4 mg/g for arsenite
and 172.9 mg/g for arsenate. The superior arsenic uptake performance
can be ascribed to abundant active sites and hydroxyl functional groups
available as well as efficient mass transfer associated with interconnected
hierarchical porous networks. In addition, the as-obtained material
exhibits exceptional sorption selectivity toward arsenic over other
coexisting anions at high levels, which can be ascribed to strong
affinity between active sites and arsenic. More importantly, the free-standing
3D porous monolith not only makes it easy for separation and collection
after treatment but also efficiently prevents the undesirable potential
release of nanoparticles into aquatic environments while maintaining
the outstanding properties of nanometer-scale building blocks. Furthermore,
the monolith absorbent is able to be effectively regenerated and reused
for five cycles with negligible decrease in arsenic removal. In view
of extremely high adsorption capacities, preferable sorption selectivity,
satisfactory recyclability, as well as facile separation nature, the
obtained 3D β-FeOOH NRs/CF monolith holds a great potential
for arsenic decontamination in practical applications