Thermally-treated MgO/nanocrystalline cellulose immobilized onto a Santa Barbara-16 mesoporous SiO 2 template for the sequestration of antibiotics from polluted water
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Date
2022-10-11
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Royal Society of Chemistry
Abstract
Clean technologies using functional materials as adsorbents for removing antibiotics from polluted
water are of great interest, especially for water scarce sub-African countries. In this study, adsorbent
MgO/nanocrystalline cellulose immobilized on a Santa-Barbara-16 mesoporous SiO2 template was
synthesized at 450 1C, 650 1C and 850 1C (MNCS-450, MNCS-650 and MNCS-850), respectively, and
characterized by pH point of zero charge (pHPZC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry,
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy
(SEM), energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and N2 physisorptometry.
To evaluate the applicability for the removal of antibiotics, sorption experiments were carried out with
two antibiotics representatives, namely ampicillin (AMP) and ciprofloxacin (CIP). The functional moieties,
high surface areas (115 to 190 m2 g 1) and pore volumes (0.185 to 0.277 cm3 STP g 1) of the adsorbents
were responsible for AMP and CIP removal, probably by hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and p–p
stacking interactions. The experimental data of the sorption experiments best fit the three-parameter
Langmuir–Freundlich model (LFM) and the mixed-1,2-order model (MOM), respectively. The maximum
LFM monolayer adsorption capacity (qmax LF) was achieved by MNCS-850 for AMP and CIP, which was
4.89 mg g 1 and 4.90 mg g 1 , respectively. Ethanol effectively removed AMP and CIP from MNCS-450,
MNCS-650 and MNCS-850 adsorbents. Therefore, the developed adsorbents can be reused and are
environmentally friendly.