Adsorption of dodecylamine hydrochloride on graphene oxide in water

Abstract

Cationic surfactants in water are difficult to be degraded, leading to serious water pollution. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was used as an adsorbent for removing Dodecylamine Hydrochloride (DACl), a representative cationic surfactant. X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to characterize the prepared GO. The adsorption of DACl on GO have been investigated through measurements of adsorption capacity, zeta potential, FTIR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The experimental results have shown that the adsorption kinetics could be described as a rate-limiting pseudo second-order process, and the adsorption isotherm agreed well with the Freundlich model. GO was a good adsorbent for DACl removal, compared with coal fly ash and powdered activated carbon. The adsorption process was endothermic, and could be attributed to electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between DACl and GO. Keywords: Graphene oxide, Dodecylamine hydrochloride, Adsorption isotherm, Adsorption mechanisms