Facile one-pot synthesis of porous N-doped graphene based NiO composite for parabens removal from wastewater and its reusability

Abstract

Personal care products (PCPs) have a prospective influence on human health, and their vast use may cause health effects such as breast cancer. In that perspective, current study is focused on designing a porous N-doped graphene-NiO nano-composite for adsorption of PCPs. Facile, easy and green one-pot synthesis via electrochemical/microwave-assisted method was applied. One family, parabens, of PCPs has been selected to be removed from water. Methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl parabens were removed in single and competitive adsorption systems. The kinetics, thermodynamics, equilibrium, and adsorption behavior under varied pH and dosage were investigated. Recycling of exhausted adsorbent was also studied. The adsorption amount of methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl parabens was 3.12, 5.28, 8.42 and 10.46 mg g–1 adsorbent under the optimum conditions. It was found that the process obeyed pseudo-second-order kinetic model and both Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models satisfactorily. The process was thermodynamically spontaneous and endothermic. Results revealed that the prepared adsorbent is recyclable and its removal mechanism involves hydrophobic as well as π–π interactions.