- Title
- Biomass derived palygorskite-carbon nanocomposites: synthesis, characterisation and affinity to dye compounds
- Creator
- Sarkar, Binoy; Liu, Erming; McClure, Stuart; Sundaramurthy, Jayaraman; Srinivasan, Madapusi; Naidu, Ravi
- Relation
- Applied Clay Science Vol. 114, Issue September 2015, p. 617-626
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2015.07.001
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- Clay minerals can act as a uniform dispersion medium for nano-sized carbon particles. However, literature on the preparation and characteristics of palygorskite–carbon nanocomposites is scant. Using a hydrothermal carbonisation technique this study developed two nanocomposites on fibrous palygorskite from starch: the first without a post-synthesis treatment (Composite 1); and the second with an activation at 550 °C for 3 h (ramp at 10 °C min−1) under CO₂ environment (200 mL min−1) (Composite 2). A uniform dispersion of nano-scale carbon spheres was formed on partially destroyed palygorskite structures. Composite 2, which indicated the formation of graphitised carbon nanoparticles, generated a 17-fold greater specific surface area than Composite 1 and also created micro- and mesopores in its structure. The nanocomposites, especially in Composite 1, contained organic surface functional groups (C⎯H, C=C, C=O) and indicated variable affinity to cationic and anionic dye compounds. While Composite 2 adsorbed a larger amount of anionic orange II dye (23 mg g−1), Composite 1 adsorbed more cationic methylene blue (46.3 mg g−1). Isothermal and kinetic modelling of the adsorption data indicated that in addition to electrostatic attraction for methylene blue adsorption on both nanocomposites, a pore diffusion mechanism was involved and the boundary resistance was greater for orange II than methylene blue adsorption. Being a material developed from green biomass (starch) and an abundant natural resource (palygorskite), these nanocomposites have immense potential for application in environmental remediation including in situ immobilisation of contaminants in soil.
- Subject
- nanocomposite; palygorskite; graphitised carbon; mesopores; adsorption; pore diffusion
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1331271
- Identifier
- uon:26579
- Identifier
- ISSN:0169-1317
- Language
- eng
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