A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ADSORPTION OF HEAVY METALS BY GRAPHENE OXIDE AND CELLULOSE HYDROGEL COMPOSITES

Abstract

Adsorption by graphene oxide (GO)/cellulose hydrogel prepared from NaOH/urea aqueous solution has been considered as a potential, cost efficient and eco-friendly method for the adsorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution. In the present work, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized (modified Hummer's method) and characterized (using FT-IR Spectroscopy) for the preparation of GO/cellulose hydrogel with a good potential for adsorption of heavy metal ions. Then the GO/cellulose hydrogel were cross linked using citric acid and NaOH/urea aqueous solution as binding agents. Due to the introduction of GO, the GO/cellulose composite hydrogels exhibited good compressive strength. Adsorption studies for different heavy metals like nickel and copper were carried out using titrimetric method. The initial amount of Ni2+ was found to be 5.8g and the calculated adsorption capacity of GO/cellulose was 4.5g …