Preparation of functionalized graphene oxide and its application as a nanoadsorbent for Hg2+ removal from aqueous solution

A poly(allyl acetoacetate)-grafted graphene oxide (GO-GAA) was successfully synthesized using Hummer’s method by divinyl sulfone modification and allyl acetoacetate polymerizaton. This novel functionalized graphene oxide was characterized thoroughly by FTIR, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, and TG-DT analyses. GO-GAA was then employed as an adsorbent for Hg2+ removal from aqueous solutions. It exhibited higher adsorption capacity with regard to the pristine graphene oxide because of its effective functionalities, especially the dicarbonyl groups which are significant chelating agents. The effects of pH, temperature, and contact time on Hg2+ adsorption were also investigated. The optimum Hg2+ adsorption was obtained at pH 4 and T = 20–30 °C. The adsorption isotherm and kinetics were found to follow the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 for both. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was 282.7 mg Hg2+ per unit mass of GO-GAA, which is much more than 56 mg/g of that obtained for GO. The results showed that adsorption reaches up to 95 % of its maximum in less than 2 min. The synthesized GO-GAA as a novel and efficient adsorbent has been regenerated by HNO3 and reused. It retained its performance for Hg2+ removal for several times and a less than 5 % decrease in removal efficiency was observed after four cycles of adsorption–desorption.