Tuning the surface functionality of polyethylene glycol-modified graphene oxide/chitosan composite for efficient removal of dye

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 13460 - 18
• Main Authors: Pervez, Md. Nahid, Jahid, Md Anwar, Mishu, Mst. Monira Rahman, Talukder, Md Eman, Buonerba, Antonio, Jiang, Tao, Liang, Yanna, Tang, Shuai, Zhao, Yaping, Dotto, Guilherme L., Cai, Yingjie, Naddeo, Vincenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.08.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301; 704/172/169/896; Adsorption; Chitosan; Dyes; Electrostatic properties; Graphene; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Polyethylene glycol; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Water pollution
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40701-9

There has been a lot of attention on water pollution by dyes in recent years because of their serious toxicological implications on human health and the environment. Therefore, the current study presented a novel polyethylene glycol-functionalized graphene oxide/chitosan composite (PEG-GO/CS) to remove dyes from aqueous solutions. Several characterization techniques, such as SEM, TEM, FTIR, TGA/DTG, XRD, and XPS, were employed to correlate the structure–property relationship between the adsorption performance and PEG-GO/CS composites. Taguchi’s (L 25 ) approach was used to optimize the batch adsorption process variables [pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and initial concentration of methyl orange (MO)] for maximal adsorption capacity. pH = 2, contact time = 90 min, adsorbent dose = 10 mg/10 mL, and MO initial concentration = 200 mg/L were found to be optimal. The material has a maximum adsorption capacity of 271 mg/g for MO at room temperature. With the greatest R 2  = 0.8930 values, the Langmuir isotherm model was shown to be the most appropriate. Compared to the pseudo-first-order model (R 2  = 0.9685), the pseudo-second-order model (R 2  = 0.9707) better fits the kinetic data. Electrostatic interactions were the dominant mechanism underlying MO sorption onto the PEG/GO-CS composite. The as-synthesized composite was reusable for up to three adsorption cycles. Thus, the PEG/GO-CS composite fabricated through a simple procedure may remove MO and other similar organic dyes in real contaminated water.