Enhanced adsorption of phenol using graphene oxide-bentonite nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterisation, and optimisation

Wastewater treatment is crucial because it causes harm to the environment of human beings. Adsorbents are faulted by low adsorption capacity and difficult recovery due to organic pollutants. This study aims to improve adsorption capacities using bentonite and other environmentally friendly and economically feasible adsorbents. To do this, using Hammer's approach, bentonite was subjected to an acidic treatment (1.5 M H2SO4) and then hybridized with synthetic graphene oxide (GO). Integrating GO nanosheets within the interlayer of acidactivated bentonite and depositing them onto the exterior surface using a simple ultrasonic-assisted method successfully created a graphene oxide-bentonite nanocomposite. GO, and its composites (at 5 and 10 wt%) were characterized using ATR-FTIR, BET, XRD, FE-SEM, and AFM studies. The results demonstrated that GO with a single-layer thickness of 0.618 nm could be successfully fabricated. We employed energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to detect changes in chemical composition before and after phenol adsorption. It was thoroughly studied how essential factors, including adsorbent dosage, pH, agitation period, and beginning phenol concentration, affected adsorption behavior. An obvious increases of the adsorption capacities from 30.69 to 46.43 mg/g were achieved under ideal circumstances of pH 6, an 8-hour contact duration, and doses of 0.3 g and 0.2 g for GO-MB5 and GO-MB10 composites, respectively. The pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir equilibrium isotherm models efficiently described the adsorption process. More notably, the synthesized adsorbents could be successfully regenerated and used without major capacity losses after six cycles. This study highlights the effectiveness of GO-bentonite nanocomposites as effective adsorbents for environmental treatment.