Adsorption performance and mechanism of magnetic reduced graphene oxide in glyphosate contaminated water

Abstract

In this study, the magnetic reduced graphene oxide (RGO/Fe₃O₄), with easy separation and high adsorption performance, was prepared and used to treat glyphosate (GLY) contaminated water. GLY adsorption performance of RGO/Fe₃O₄ was investigated, and influences of pH, adsorption time, temperature, contaminant concentration, and competing anions were analyzed. Moreover, the adsorption mechanism was discussed in the light of several characterization methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results demonstrated that the RGO/Fe₃O₄ presented a significant GLY adsorption capacity and acid condition was beneficial for this adsorption. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model correlated satisfactorily to the experimental data, indicating that this process was controlled by chemical adsorption and monolayer adsorption. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the adsorption of glyphosate onto RGO/Fe₃O₄ was spontaneous, endothermic, and feasible process. High temperatures were beneficial to GLY adsorption. The GLY adsorption mechanism of RGO/Fe₃O₄ was mainly attributed to hydrogen-bond interaction, electrostatic interaction, and coordination. Therefore, the RGO/Fe₃O₄ investigated in this research may offer an attractive adsorbent candidate for treatment of glyphosate contaminated water and warrant further study as a mechanism for glyphosate efficient removal.