Synergistic removal of copper and tetracycline from aqueous solution by steam-activated bamboo-derived biochar.

Steam-activated biochar (SBC) was prepared and showed excellent performance for synergistic removal of Cu2+ and tetracycline (TC). The adsorption capacity of SBC and mutual effect of TC and Cu2+ were investigated via single and binary system and the adsorption isotherm. The adsorption capacity of TC was significantly enhanced when it coexisted with Cu2+. Likewise, increased amounts of Cu2+ were adsorbed in the presence of TC. The presence of NaCl exerted a negative influence on the adsorption of Cu2+, while the inhibitory effect of salinity on TC was neutralized by bridge enhancement in the binary system. Bridge enhancement and site competition were involved in the synergistic removal of TC and Cu2+. Considering the stable application in simulated and real water samples, SBC showed great potential for synergistic removal of antibiotics and heavy metals.

The performance of UiO-66-NH2/graphene oxide (GO) composite membrane for removal of differently charged mixed dyes.

The dye wastewater treatment by membrane separation technology has obtained extensive attention in recent years. Nevertheless, it was rare for research on the removal of differently charged mixed dyes. In this study, several UiO-66-NH2 composite membranes were prepared and optimization experiments were conducted. The performance of composite membranes were evaluated by the removal of cationic (Methylene blue, MB), neutral (Rhodamine B, RB), and anionic (Congo red, CR) dyes. The optimization results demonstrated that the UiO-66-NH2/graphene oxide (UNG) composite membrane (PUF/PDA/UNG) which was loaded on polyurethane foam modified with polydopamine (PUF/PDA) had the best properties. In filtration experiments, the solution pH exhibited greater effect on the removal efficiency of MB and CR than RB. When NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and Na2SO4 coexisted in the dye solution, the removal efficiency of MB by PUF/PDA/UNG membrane were 96.62%, 98.17%, 86.39% and 99.34% respectively. The presence of humic acid showed slight inhibitory effect on the removal of MB by PUF/PDA/UNG membrane (71.93%). The experimental results for mixed dyes filtration showed that PUF/PDA/UNG membrane could effectively remove MB, RB and CR in binary (i.e., MB/RB and RB/CR) and ternary (i.e., MB/RB/CR) systems through secondary filtration. And PUF/PDA/UNG membrane could remove MB and CR simultaneously through one-time filtration in MB/CR binary system. The removal mechanism was mainly attributed to the aggregation of mixed dyes, electrostatic interaction between dye molecules and the membrane surface, and hydrogen bonding. All results suggested that the as-prepared PUF/PDA/UNG membrane have great potential in practical treatment of dye wastewater.

Graphene and graphene-based nanocomposites used for antibiotics removal in water treatment: A review.

Due to their extensive application in human and veterinary medicine, antibiotics have been found worldwide and studied as new pollutants in the aquatic environment. In order to remove such pollutants, adsorption and photocatalysis have attracted tremendous attention because of their great potential in antibiotics removal from aqueous solutions. Graphene, as a novel two-dimensional nanomaterial, possesses unique structure and physicochemical properties, which can be used to efficiently adsorb and photodegrade antibiotics. This review provides an overview of the adsorptive and catalytic properties of graphene, and recent advances in adsorption and photodegradation of antibiotics by graphene and its derivatives. The factors that affect the adsorption and photodegradation of antibiotics are reviewed and discussed. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of adsorption and photodegradation are summarized and analyzed. Meanwhile, statistical analysis is conducted based on the number of papers and the maximum adsorption and photodegradation ability on various antibiotics removal. Finally, some unsolved problems together with major challenges that exist in the fabrication and application of graphene-based nanocomposites and the development for antibiotics removal is also proposed. This work provides theoretical guidance for subsequent research in the field of adsorption and photocatalytic removal of antibiotics from aqueous solution, especially on influence factors and mechanisms aspects.

Enhancement of Detoxification of Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metals in Oil-Contaminated Soil by Using Glycine-ß-Cyclodextrin.

Soil contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals is a widespread environmental problem. In recent years, cyclodextrin has attracted research interest because of its special hole structure that can form inclusion complexes with certain small molecules. However, the solubility of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) in water is low and it crystallizes easily, leading to its low utilization in practice. In this experiment, we connected ß-CD with glycine under alkaline conditions to prepare glycine-ß-cyclodextrin (G-ß-CD), which is water soluble, has stronger coordinating ability with heavy metals, and is more suitable for treating oil-contaminated soil. The results show that G-ß-CD provides better desorption of petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals in soils with low organic matter content (1%) and NaNO3 of 0.25 mol/L at 70 g/L G-ß-CD under mildly acidic (pH 5⁻6) conditions. The results indicate that petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals were removed simultaneously by means of pretreatment with G-ß-CD, and the results can provide a theoretical basis for remediation of petroleum-contaminated soil.

Core-shell nanomaterials: Applications in energy storage and conversion.

Materials with core-shell structures have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their unique properties and wide applications in energy storage and conversion systems. Through reasonable adjustments of their shells and cores, various types of core-shell structured materials can be fabricated with favorable properties that play significant roles in energy storage and conversion processes. The core-shell material can provide an effective solution to the current energy crisis. Various synthetic strategies used to fabricate core-shell materials, including the atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition and solvothermal method, are briefly mentioned here. A state-of-the -art review of their applications in energy storage and conversion is summarized. The involved energy storage includes supercapacitors, li-ions batteries and hydrogen storage, and the corresponding energy conversion technologies contain quantum dot solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, silicon/organic solar cells and fuel cells. In addition, the correlation between the core-shell structures and their performance in energy storage and conversion is introduced, and this finding can provide guidance in designing original core-shell structures with advanced properties.

Constructing magnetic and high-efficiency AgI/CuFe2O4 photocatalysts for inactivation of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus under visible light: Inactivation performance and mechanism analysis.

Magnetic materials usually exhibit advanced performance in many areas for their easy separating and recycle ability. In this study, silver iodide/copper ferrite (AgI/CuFe2O4) catalysts with excellent magnetic property were successfully synthesized and characterized by a series of techniques. Two typical bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were applied to estimate the photocatalytic inactivation performance of obtained AgI/CuFe2O4 catalysts. Results revealed that the AgI/CuFe2O4 (12.5% AgI) composite could absolutely inactivate 3 × 109 CFU/mL E. coli and 2.7 × 108 CFU/mL S. aureus cells severally in 50 min and 40 min under visible light irradiation, which showed a much higher photo-disinfection activity than monomers. Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the biocidal action of this nanocatalyst, the results confirmed that the treated E. coli cells were damaged, the nanocatalyst permeated into cells and resulting in death of cells. Besides, it was found that the destruction of bacterial membrane together with substantial leaked potassium ion (K+) which caused by the photo-generated reactive species superoxide radical (O2-) and holes (h+) could be the direct disinfection principles. For a deep insight into practical applications, the influences of different catalyst concentrations and reaction pH were also taken into discussion in details. The overall results indicated the novel photocatalyst with strong redox capacity and outstanding reusability can be widely employed in bacteria elimination.

Construction of a high-performance photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) based on plasmonic silver modified Cr-BiOCl nanosheets for simultaneous electricity production and pollutant removal.

The development of high-performance photocatalytic fuel cells (PFCs) is seriously hampered by poor light utilization rates and low charge carrier transfer efficiency. Herein, we have experimentally obtained plasmonic Ag modified Cr-BiOCl (Cr-BOC/Ag) with high visible light photocatalytic activity and provided direct evidence for the substantially enhanced catalytic activity in metal-semiconductor photocatalysts. The experimental results revealed that the Cr doping and Ag modification could not only extend the photo absorption of BiOCl from the UV to the visible light region but could also greatly increase the generation and transfer rate of charge carriers because of its narrowed band gap and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of metallic Ag. Under visible light irradiation, the Cr-BOC/Ag showed a remarkable enhancement in the PFC performance when the optimum contents of Cr doping and Ag loading was 14.4% and 4%, respectively. The trapping experiments and multiple characterizations demonstrated that the advantageous combination of the Cr doping effect and SPR effect induced by the Ag nanoparticles is responsible for the high generation rate of oxidative species and effective charge carrier transfer. By using RhB as fuel, approximately 75.1% color removal efficiency and 8.38% coulombic efficiency were obtained under visible light irradiation for 240 min, which are higher than those of MO and TC. In addition, the Jsc and Voc of the Cr-BOC/Ag photoanode were measured to be 0.0073 mA cm-2 and 0.543 V.

Adsorption studies of 17ß-estradiol from aqueous solution using a novel stabilized Fe-Mn binary oxide nanocomposite.

The removal of 17ß-estradiol (E2) from contaminated water on nanoscale Fe-Mn binary oxide-loaded multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs/FMBO) was evaluated in this work. The characterizations of the mesoporous adsorbent were analyzed by using SEM, TEM, VSM, XRD, XPS, and FTIR measurements. The effects of experimental conditions in E2 removal, including stabilizer additional level, adsorption time, initial E2 concentration, solution pH, reaction temperature, and foreign ions, were examined. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity (qm) of MWCNTs/FMBO for E2 in the experiment was 47.25 mg/g as verified by the Langmuir sorption isotherm study. The adsorption process was pH-sensitive with an optimum pH of 7.0. On the kinetics study, the adsorption data could be satisfactorily fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermal. In addition, the foreign ions did not show any noticeable inhibition for E2 removal from the water solution except for PO43- that was adversely affected for E2 uptake than other anions in a certain concentration. The adsorption capacities of the mesoporous adsorbent remained at 86.16% even after five adsorption-desorption cycles without significant loss of capacity, which demonstrated the stability and reusability for further removal of E2. Moreover, both hydrogen bond and π-π interaction might be the dominating adsorption mechanisms for E2 adsorption onto MWCNTs/FMBO.

Insights into the effect of chemical treatment on the physicochemical characteristics and adsorption behavior of pig manure-derived biochars.

Chemical treatment could improve the adsorption performance of biochars (BC). In order to deal with Pb(II) pollution, four types of biochars including unmodified, acid-treated, alkali-treated, and magnetic-treated pig manure-derived biochars (PBCs) were prepared. The effect of chemical treatment on the physical property, chemical composition, and the adsorption behavior of biochars was compared. Magnetic and alkali treatment improved pore volume and specific surface areas, and the adsorption capacity and rates were enhanced. In contrast, the adsorption capacity of acid-treated BC decreased due to the significant decrease of ash content. The magnetic samples displayed the satisfactory absorption performance, which could achieve 99.8% removal efficiency within 15 min at a Pb(II) concentration of 50 mg/L. Considering its properties of excellent adsorption performance, fast reaction rate, and convenient recovery by an external magnetic field, magnetic biochar based on pig manure may provide an effective way to remove heavy metals and decrease the pig manure solid waste.

Construction of 2D heterojunction system with enhanced photocatalytic performance: Plasmonic Bi and reduced graphene oxide co-modified Bi5O7I with high-speed charge transfer channels.

The efficient electron-hole charge pair separation, ultra-fast electron migration and excellent light harvest capacity are essential for semiconductor photocatalyst with superior photocatalytic performance. In this study, we constructed layered 2D/2D heterojunction composite of Bi@Bi5O7I/rGO (BiBGOI) through a facile surface charge mediated self-assembly strategy. The unique 2D/2D heterostructure with face to face contact can increase the contact area and generate a large amount of charge transfer nanochannels in the interfacial heterojunction, resulting in the enhancement of photocatalytic activity. Addition of semimetal Bi can enhance light absorption, and the local electromagnetic field dominated by SPR effect is favorable for photoinduced charge pair separation. The novel composite showed superior photocatalytic performance for decomposing levofloxacin (LVFX), which was attributed to the unique 2D/2D structure and SPR effect. The enhanced mineralization ability of the novel composite was ascribed to the strong oxidization ability of photoinduced holes, further evaluating high charge pair separation efficiency. In addition, the strong adsorption capacity of rGO for LVFX molecules can enable active radicals transfer into the surface to decompose it. This work will shed light on constructing 2D/2D heterojunction system assisted with SPR effect for the practical application in removal of organic pollutants.

Fabrication of visible-light-driven silver iodide modified iodine-deficient bismuth oxyiodides Z-scheme heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic activity for Escherichia coli inactivation and tetracycline degradation.

At present, various organic pollutants and pathogenic microorganisms presented in wastewater have severely threatened aquatic ecosystem and human health. Meanwhile, semiconductor photocatalysis technology for water purification has attracted increasingly significant attention. Herein, we successfully constructed a series of novel visible-light-driven (VLD) Bi4O5I2/AgI hybrid photocatalysts with different AgI amounts. Compared with pristine AgI and Bi4O5I2, Bi4O5I2/AgI with the optimal AgI contents exhibited remarkably enhanced photocatalytic performance in probe experiment for Escherichia coli (E. coli) disinfection and tetracycline (TC) degradation. The efficiency for TC degradation and E. coli inactivation reached 82% and 100% in 30 min, respectively. The enhanced electron-hole separation efficiency was responsible for improved photocatalytic activity. In addition, the destruction process of the chemical structure of TC molecules was further investigated by three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra (3D EEMs). The activity and crystal phase of the catalysts did not change significantly after four cycles, demonstrating their excellent recyclability and stability of catalysts. The Ag+ ion leaking experiments, radical trapping experiments and ESR tests demonstrated that OH, O2- and h+ were the main active species in photocatalytic disinfection processes. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism of Bi4O5I2/AgI nanomaterials was discussed in detail in conjunction with the energy band structure, and a reasonable Z-scheme interfacial charge transfer mechanism was proposed. This work is expected to provide an efficient water disinfection method.

Influence of immobilization on phenanthrene degradation by Bacillus sp. P1 in the presence of Cd(II).

Suspended microbes gradually lost advantages in practical applications of PAHs and heavy metals bioremediation. Therefore this study investigated the effect of immobilization on phenanthrene degradation by Bacillus sp. P1 in the presence of different Cd(II) concentrations. Condensed Bacillus sp. P1 was immobilized with polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate and PVA-SA-cell cryogel beads were prepared. The results indicated that the use of gel beads increased the number of adsorption sites thus accelerating phenanthrene degradation. In addition, changes in detoxification indices, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH), were determined to elucidate the immobilization mechanisms related to cells protection from Cd(II) when degrading phenanthrene. By protecting the gel membrane, oxidative damage was minimized, while SOD activity increased from 55.72 to 81.33 U/mgprot as Cd(II) increased from 0 to 200 mg/L but later dropped to 44.29 U/mgprot as Cd(II) increased to 300 mg/L for the non-immobilized system. On the other hand, the SOD activity kept increasing from 52.23 to 473.35 U/mgprot for the immobilized system exposed to Cd(II) concentration between 0 and 300 mg/L. For CAT and GSH, immobilization only slowed down the depletion process without any change on the variation trends. The changes in surface properties and physiological responses of microbes caused the differences of immobilization effect on phenanthrene biodegradation in the presence of Cd(II), which is a novel finding.

Ultrathin BiOCl Single-Crystalline Nanosheets with Large Reactive Facets Area and High Electron Mobility Efficiency: A Superior Candidate for High-Performance Dye Self-Photosensitization Photocatalytic Fuel Cell.

Strong dye adsorption and fast electron transfer are of crucial importance to achieve high conversion efficiency of dye self-photosensitization photocatalytic fuel cells (DSPFCs). In this study, we have experimentally achieved the enhanced cell performance in ultrathin BiOCl{010} (BOC(010)-U) nanosheets and provide an idea to investigate the relationship between the physical structure and the chemical performance of semiconductor materials. Experimental phenomenon showed that the exposed areas of highly active {010} facets were remarkably enhanced with the decrease of the BiOCl thickness. The large area of {010} facets with abundant active sites and open channel characteristic were exposed to facilitate photosensitization process, and the atomically thin structure was designed to speed up electron transfer. By employing 40 mL of 5 mg/L rhodamine B as fuel, it was found that the BOC(010)-U photoanode exhibited superior photovoltaic performance and photocatalytic degradation activity than other materials in the DSPFC system, whose Jsc and Voc were measured to be 0.00865 mA/cm2 and 0.731 V, respectively. Besides, about 72% color removal efficiency and 10.77% Coulombic efficiency were obtained under visible light irradiation for 240 min. The experimental results and multiple characterizations demonstrated that the strong dye adsorption ability and efficient charge migration were responsible for the sustaining generation of photocurrent and enhancement of pollutants degradation activity.

A new exploration of health risk assessment quantification from sources of soil heavy metals under different land use.

Heavy metals in the topsoil affected adversely human health through inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact. The health risk assessment, which are quantified from soil heavy metals sources under different land use, can provide an important reference basis for preventing and controlling the soil heavy metals pollution from the source. In this study, simple statistical analysis and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) were used to quantify sources of soil heavy metals; then a health risk assessment (HRA) model combined with PMF was proposed to assess quantificationally the human health risk (including non-cancer risk and cancer risk) from sources under residential-land, forest-land and farm land. Xiang River New District (XRNQ) was chosen as the example and four significant sources were quantitatively analyzed in the study. For cancer risk, industrial discharge was the largest source and accounted for about 69.6%, 69.7%, 56.5% for adults under residential-land, forest-land and farm-land, respectively. For non-cancer risk, industrial discharge was still the largest significant source under residential-land and forest-land and accounted for about 41.7%, 39.2% for adult, respectively; while agricultural activities accounted for about 51.8% for adult under farm-land. The risk trend of children, including cancer risk and non-cancer risk, was similar with adults. However, the non-cancer risk areas of adults affected by industrial discharge was higher than that of children, while the cancer risk areas of adults were on the contrary. The new exploration was useful to assess health risk quantification from sources under different land use, thus providing certain reference in preventing and controlling the pollution from the source for local authorities effectively.

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of CdS/SnS2 nanocomposite with highly-efficient charge transfer and visible light utilization for selective reduction of 4-nitroaniline.

Photocatalytic reduction can be an effective and promising technology for the selective reduction of aromatic nitro organics. In this paper, a novel Z-scheme CdS/SnS2 photocatalyst was well-designed and fabricated via simple in-site reaction process containing thioacetamide as a sulfur sources and cubic CdSnO3 as template. The resulting CdS/SnS2 composite has well-constructed cubic nanostructure of strong adhesion between CdS and SnS2, presenting high absorption to visible light. Importantly, strong charge transfer between the contacting regions of CdS and SnS2 through the intermediate sulfur atoms combined with both metals was generated, which speeds up separation of photogenerated electron and hole. The advantageous combination of high light-harvesting and effective charge transfer is responsible for the excellent photocatalytic activity at the CdS/SnS2 heterointerface. Resultantly, the prepared CdS/SnS2 composites exhibit high conversion efficiency and selectivity on 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) reduction in the aqueous solution containing ammonium formate under visible light irradiation, which can reduce almost all 4-NA within 12 min. Trapping experiments and ESR analysis demonstrated that ammonium formate not only can effectively decrease recombination of photogenerated charge carriers but also react with holes to generate CO2- radicals possessing strong reduction ability. The 4-NA are effectively photo-reduced by the synergistic effect of electrons and CO2- radicals. According to the experimental results, a possible Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism was proposed. Besides, the photo-reduction of aromatic nitro organics possessed different para-groups (p-nitrophenol, nitrobenzene, and p-nitrobenzaldehyde) was also investigated. It is found that the electron-drawing group can decrease the electron density of its para-position nitryl, which quickens the nitro reduction.

The effect of several activated biochars on Cd immobilization and microbial community composition during in-situ remediation of heavy metal contaminated sediment.

Chemical activation and microwave assisted activation were adopted to modify biochar. Activated biochars were characterized by SEM, BET, FTIR, XRD and XPS. Raw biochar, activated biochars and commercial activated carbon were compared as remediation strategies for sediment from the Xiangjiang River containing 14.70 mg/kg Cd. After the treatment by activated biochar, the overlying water and pore water concentration of Cd decreased by 71% and 49%, respectively. And the threat of heavy metal along with bioavailability of Cd was depressed. Moreover, the immobilsation of Cd in sediment was related to BET surface area and the content of oxygen containing functional groups of activated biochars. Furthermore, a PCR-DGGE-based experiment was performed for the detection of microbial community. The indigenous microbial community was affected and new microbial community appeared after treat by activated biochar. Activated biochar can be used as an inexpensive and efficient in situ remediation material of sediment containing metal.

Zirconium-based metal organic frameworks loaded on polyurethane foam membrane for simultaneous removal of dyes with different charges.

Treating dye wastewater by membrane filtration technology has received much attention from researchers all over the world, however, current studies mainly focused on the removal of singly charged dyes but actual wastewater usually contains dyes with different charges. In this study, the removal of neutral, cationic and anionic dyes in binary or ternary systems was conducted by using zirconium-based metal organic frameworks loaded on polyurethane foam (Zr-MOFs-PUF) membrane. The Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane was fabricated by an in-situ hydrothermal synthesis approach and a hot-pressing process. Neutrally charged Rhodamine B (RB), positively charged Methylene blue (MB), and negatively charged Congo red (CR) were chosen as model pollutants for investigating filtration performance of the membrane. The results of filtration experiments showed that the Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane could simultaneously remove RB, MB, and CR not only from their binary system including RB/MB, RB/CR, and MB/CR mixtures, but also from RB/MB/CR ternary system. The removal of dyes by Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane was mainly attributed to the electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bond interaction, and Lewis acid-base interactions between the membrane and dye molecules. The maximum removal efficiencies by Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane were 98.80% for RB at pH ≈ 7, 97.57% for MB at pH ≈ 9, and 87.39% for CR at pH ≈ 3. Additionally, when the NaCl concentration reached 0.5 mol/L in single dye solutions, the removal efficiencies of RB, MB, and CR by Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane were 93.08%, 79.52%, and 97.82%, respectively. All the results suggested that the as-prepared Zr-MOFs-PUF membrane has great potential in practical treatment of dye wastewater.

Efficient removal of Cd2+ and Pb2+ from aqueous solution with amino- and thiol-functionalized activated carbon: Isotherm and kinetics modeling.

In order to address the increasingly severe pollution issue caused by heavy metals, activated carbon-based absorbents have gained considerable attention. Herein, two novel adsorbents, amino-functionalized activated carbon (N-AC) and thiol-functionalized activated carbon (S-AC), were successfully synthesized by stepwise modification with tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), cyanuric chloride (CC) and sodium sulfide. The pristine and synthesized materials were characterized by BET analysis, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and zeta-potential analyzer. Meanwhile, their adsorption properties for Cd2+ and Pb2+ and the effects of various variables on the adsorption processes were systematically investigated. The findings confirmed that amino-groups and thiol-groups endowed the AC with a strong affinity for metal ions and that the pH of solution affected the uptake efficiencies of the adsorbents by influencing their surface charges. Furthermore, six isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich, Sips and Redlich-Peterson) and four kinetic models (pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Intra-particle diffusion and Elovich) were applied to interpret the adsorption process at three different temperatures (288 K, 298 K and 308 K). The results indicated that temperature played an important role and that the rate-limiting step was chemosorption. A better fit for all adsorption systems was obtained with Langmuir model, with the maximum adsorption capacities at 298 K of 79.20 mg Cd2+/g and 142.03 mg Pb2+/g for N-AC, 130.05 mg Cd2+/g and 232.02 mg Pb2+/g for S-AC, respectively. Subsequently, the thermodynamic parameters revealed the nature of the adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous under the experimental condition. The possible adsorption procedures and the underlying mechanisms comprising physical and chemical interactions were proposed. Moreover, the as-synthesized adsorbents exhibited excellent regeneration performance after five adsorption/desorption cycles. The overall results demonstrated that both N-AC and S-AC could be the promising efficient candidates for removing Cd2+ and Pb2+ from contaminated water.

Investigating the adsorption behavior and the relative distribution of Cd2+ sorption mechanisms on biochars by different feedstock.

The objective of this study was to investigate the adsorption behavior and the relative distribution of Cd2+ sorption mechanisms on biochars by different feedstock. Bamboo biochars (BBCs), corn straw biochars (CBCs) and pig manure biochars (PBCs) were prepared at 300-700 °C. Adsorption results showed PBCs have the best adsorption capacity for Cd2+, the extra adsorption capacity of PBCs mainly attributed to the precipitation or cation exchange, which played an important role in the removal of Cd2+ by PBCs. The contribution of involved Cd2+ removal mechanism varied with feedstock due to the different components and oxygen-containing functional groups. Cd2+-π interaction was the predominant mechanism for Cd2+ removal on biochars and the contribution proportion significantly decreased from 82.17% to 61.83% as the ash content increased from 9.40% to 58.08%. Results from this study may suggest that the application of PBC is a feasible strategy for removing metal contaminants from aqueous solutions.

Ultrathin reduced graphene oxide/MOF nanofiltration membrane with improved purification performance at low pressure.

Here we demonstrated an alternative partial reduction graphene oxide/metal-organic frameworks nano-scale laminated membrane for dyes and heavy metal ions removal at low pressure. Compared with pure prGO membranes, the novel UiO-66-(COOH)2/prGO membranes with loose structure and excellent selective permeability demonstrated significant enhancements of permeation for low-pressure nanofiltration. The UiO-66-(COOH)2/prGO membranes possess more nanochannels structure, high surface charge and stability, which were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The experiment result indicated that the flux of composite membranes for pure water was 20.0 ±â€¯2.5 Lm-2h-1bar-1, about 2.9 times higher than that (6.5 ±â€¯1.2 Lm-2h-1bar-1) of the pristine prGO membranes at the same prGO loading. The high rejection of UiO-66-(COOH)2/prGO membranes for organic dyes (98.2 ±â€¯1.7% for negatively charged congo red and 92.55 ±â€¯2.5% for positively charged methylene blue) were exhibited. Moreover, the rejection for heavy metal ions also can be efficiently improved up to 96.5-83.1% for Cu2+ and 92.6-80.4% for Cd2+, indicating the positive effect of the electrostatic interaction on the nanochannels for ions. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that novel UiO-66-(COOH)2/prGO membranes have great potential application in water treatment.