The preparation of synthetic graphite materials with hierarchical pores from lignite by one-step impregnation and their characterization as dye absorbents

• Published in: RSC advances 2019-04, Vol.9 (22), p.12737-12746
• Main Authors: Qiu, Tian, Yang, Jian-Guo, Bai, Xue-Jie, Wang, Yu-Ling
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Chemistry; Dyes; Fourier transforms; Graphite; Graphitization; Impregnation; Lignite; Microscopy; Phosphoric acid; Photoelectrons; Pollutants; Porosity; Pretreatment; Raman spectroscopy; Scanning electron microscopy; Specific surface; Spectrum analysis; Sulfuric acid; Surface area; Surface chemistry; Temperature effects; Transmission electron microscopy; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ra00343f

Herein, synthetic graphite materials with hierarchical pores and large specific surface area were successfully prepared by one-step impregnation with lignite as the carbon source, sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) as the oxidant, and phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) as the activator. The microstructural characteristics of synthetic graphite were investigated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Moreover, the pore parameters were studied by nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The results showed that synthetic graphite had a perfect orderly layered structure with high graphitization degree and a well-developed multistage pore structure with pore sizes ranging from nanometer to micrometer. The specific surface area and pore volume were 415.29 m 2 g −1 and 0.67 cm 3 g −1 , respectively. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the impregnation pretreatment provided polar groups containing oxygen to the surfaces. These unique characteristics make synthetic graphite possess good adsorption capacity for dye pollutants (the adsorption rate of the methyl orange solution was 99.9% within 60 min at 50 °C, and the pH value of the solution was 3). The effects of temperature and pH value on the adsorption capacity were studied. The repeatability of the adsorption performance was also tested, and the adsorption rate was 84.6% of the initial adsorption rate after five cycles. Herein, synthetic graphite materials with hierarchical pores and large specific surface area were prepared by one-step impregnation with lignite as the carbon source, H 2 SO 4 as the oxidant, and H 3 PO 4 as the activator.