A proposed activated carbon for the removal of silver nanoparticles from water environment

Abstract

This work aims to propose an activated carbon derived from natural material for the removal of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from water environment. The activated carbon was derived from coconut shells via chemical approach. For the description of kinetic mechanism, several kinetic adsorption models were employed. They are the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Power, Avrami, mixed 1,2-order, fractal-like pseudo-first-order, and fractal-like pseudo-second-order. This investigation was carried out using a batch experiment. Evaluation of the models was carried out using six statistical indicators. This investigation exhibited that the proposed activated carbon had capability to remove AgNPs from water environment. Kinetic adsorption behavior can be described well using the mixed 1,2-order compared to other employed models. In general, this study successfully proposed activated carbon derived from natural resource for the removal of AgNPs from the environment. This study is useful for the development of natural adsorbent materials for various pollutants removal.