Facile synthesis of highly porous “carbon sponge” with adsorption and co-adsorption behavior of lead ions and atrazine

Abstract

The rapid industrialization and modern agriculture, increasing emission of heavy metals, and abusing application of pesticide have changed biochemical features of the soil system and water system. Additionally, heavy metals and pesticide compounds may occur together in environments, giving rise to more serious damage to the environment because of their combined toxicity and carcinogenic properties. Therefore, there is a growing need for the development of low-cost adsorbents for their removal. Porous carbon materials have been considered as highly effective materials for pollutant ion control. In this thesis, a novel porous "carbon sponge" is produced using sucrose (S-PCS) with gas-producing molten salt KHCO₃ as the activator at different pyrolysis temperatures under a limited-oxygen condition. Results from these characterizations have indicated that the as-prepared carbon sponges share high surface area (up to 457.6434 m² g⁻¹) and abundant oxygen-containing functional groups existed on the surface. The essential factors of contact time, initial concentrations, and cyclic availability on adsorption of lead ions and atrazine onto the as-prepared porous samples are also discussed. The typical kinetic and thermodynamic models are carried out to interpret the adsorption behaviors of lead ions and atrazine. The interactive effects and mechanism of lead ions and atrazine adsorption onto S-PCS samples are examined by simultaneous adsorption and preloading adsorption procedures. Combined with the economic and environmental merits of the raw materials, the porous carbon sponges of sucrose by KHCO₃ activated are promising materials for potential practical applications.

Graphical abstract

The schematic diagram on the preparation of porous carbon sponse from sucrose.