High efficiency Pb(II) removal using a green synthesized iochar/graphene-supported chlorapatite

Abstract

Carbonaceous nano-chlorapatites have attracted great attention for the remediation of heavy metal-contaminated environment. Herein, a novel biochar/graphene-supported chlorapatite (BC/G-ClAP) was successfully synthesized by a green method for the purpose of removing the Pb(Ⅱ) from the water. The generated BC/G-ClAP was characterized by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that biochar had the mesoporous structure with the layers of graphene on biochar surfaces and chlorapatites were distributed on the surface of biochar/graphene. BC/G-ClAP showed excellent remediation performance towards Pb(Ⅱ) contaminated water, with the Pb(Ⅱ) removing efficiency of 80.29%. The high remediation was due to the porous biochar/graphene with plenty of functional group have the strong adsorption for the Pb(Ⅱ) ions and the chlorapatites showed the cation exchange with Pb(Ⅱ) to form the stable Pb10(PO4)6Cl2. Therefore, this green synthesis method and the novel composites have a great potential for the application of remediation in the contaminanted environment.