Preparation of core-shell structured polystyrene @ graphene oxide composite microspheres with high adsorption capacity and its removal of dye contaminants

ABSTRACT

Styrene was added dropwise to graphene dispersion solution by Pickering emulsion method to fabricate polystyrene @ graphene oxide layered composite microspheres (Pst@GO) for the removal of dye pollutants from water solution. Field emission scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, Brunauer emmett teller, zeta potential analyser and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer were adopted to analyse the changes in the microstructure and functional group of Pst@GO before and after the adsorption. The effects of initial concentration, adsorbent dose, pH, adsorption temperature and time on the adsorption behaviour of RhB and MB onto Pst@GO were studied by batch experiments. The results showed that a lot of folds on the surface of Pst@GO were beneficial to improve its adsorption capacity. The maximum adsorption capacity of RhB and MB onto Pst@GO was 49.70 and 59.07 mg g⁻¹ at the initial concentration of 300 mg L⁻¹, dose 0.1 g, pH = 7.0, adsorption temperature 55°C, adsorption time 2 h. The adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics analysis indicated that the adsorption of two dyes onto Pst@GO was endothermic reaction, while electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding are the main driving forces for the adsorption reaction.

Polystyrene @ graphene oxide layered composite microspheres (Pst@GO) were prepared by Pickering emulsion method to remove dye pollutants in water. The preparation process of Pst@GO is as follows:

Figure 1 Schematic fabrication process of Pst@GO.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Polystyrene
• graphene oxide
• composite microspheres
• dye adsorption
• adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 20180510024).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Wei Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1495-8191

Jingde Luan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9303-2973

Xiaokun Yu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1796-380X

Xueqin Wang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5486-1688

Xin Ke http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9695-4113

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province: [grant number 20180510024].