Burning magnesium in carbon dioxide for highly effective phosphate removal
Ying Yao,
Lei Yu,
Meiling Wang,
Alvin Dai,
Yan Zhang,
Qiubo Guo,
Yulin Lin,
Jianguo Wen,
Feng Wu,
Xiulei Ji,
Jun Lu
Affiliations
Ying Yao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Science and Engineering Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing China
Lei Yu
Center for Nanoscale Materials Argonne National Laboratory Lemont Illinois
Meiling Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Science and Engineering Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing China
Alvin Dai
Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division Argonne National Laboratory Lemont Illinois
Yan Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Science and Engineering Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing China
Qiubo Guo
Department of Chemistry Oregon State University Corvallis Oregon
Yulin Lin
Center for Nanoscale Materials Argonne National Laboratory Lemont Illinois
Jianguo Wen
Center for Nanoscale Materials Argonne National Laboratory Lemont Illinois
Feng Wu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Science and Engineering Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing China
Xiulei Ji
Department of Chemistry Oregon State University Corvallis Oregon
Jun Lu
Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division Argonne National Laboratory Lemont Illinois
Abstract Magnesium oxide was found to have high‐phosphate‐affinity as an effective component to enhance the phosphate removal ability of common adsorbent materials. However, the currently prepared MgO‐based hybrid adsorbents by conventional methods still suffer from the limited low loading of MgO and inferior removal performances, much far away from practical application. In this study, an ingenious carbon coated MgO nanocomposite is designed by directly burning magnesium in CO2, a well‐known textbook reaction. X‐ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscope and aberration‐corrected high‐resolution transmission electron microscope demonstrate the sample is well prepared. Consequently, the high content of nanosized MgO combined with defect‐rich carbon layer brings unprecedented phosphate removal capacity of 1135.0 mg/g, removal rate of 99% and benign compatibility with coexisting anions and solution pH. Furthermore, the removal mechanism is also investigated in detail by characterizing the sample before and after adsorption.
