Efficiency and mechanism of phosphate adsorption and desorption of a novel Mg-loaded biochar material.

Phosphate removal is complicated by the need for resource recovery. Biochar shows promise for efficient phosphate adsorption, but it must be modified to enhance its adsorption capacity. In this work, magnesium (Mg)-loaded biochar was synthesized through a two-step dipping and calcination process, and the MgBC600 product was used to adsorb phosphate from simulated water and biogas slurry wastewater. The phosphate adsorption capacity of Mg-loaded biochar was 109.35 mg/g, which was 12 times higher than that of unmodified biochar. The R2 of the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were 0.988 and 0.990, respectively, which fitted the phosphate adsorption process of MgBC600. Phosphate adsorption by MgBC600 was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The adsorption mechanism study showed that phosphate adsorption was controlled by the formation and electrostatic attraction of MgHPO4. In addition, 98% of chemically adsorbed phosphate was released after regeneration. Using phosphate-adsorbed MgBC600 as a soil amendment, Arabidopsis thaliana was 1.47 times higher than that in the biochar-only group, demonstrating that this is a promising strategy for enhancing phosphate adsorption efficiency and adsorbent recycling.

Electron-Level Mechanistic Insights into Ce Doping for Enhanced Efficiency Degradation of Bisphenol A under Visible Light Irradiation.

Bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr), with its special layered structure, is known to have potential as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst. However, the rapid recombination and short lifetime of the photogenerated carriers of BiOBr restrict its photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of organic pollutants. Given the similar ionic size of Ce and Bi, Ce atoms might be easily introduced into the crystal of BiOBr to tailor its band structure. In this study, Ce doped BiOBr (Ce-BiOBr) samples with different percentages of Ce contents were prepared via a hydrothermal method. The intrinsic photocatalytic efficiency of Ce0.2-BiOBr for the degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) was 3.66 times higher than that of pristine BiOBr under visible light irradiation. The mechanism of Ce-doping modification for the enhanced photocatalytic performance was demonstrated based on a series of experiments and DFT calculation. The narrowed bandgap, the enhanced charge separation efficiency and Ce-doping energy level contributed to the remarkable photocatalytic performance of Ce-BiOBr.