Honeycomb-like cork activated carbon with ultra-high adsorption capacity for anionic, cationic and mixed dye: Preparation, performance and mechanism

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2022-08, Vol.357, p.127363-127363, Article 127363
• Main Authors: Wang, Qihang, Luo, Cuimei, Lai, Zongyuan, Chen, Shiqing, He, Danwei, Mu, Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cork activated carbon; Honeycomb-like structure; Organic dyes; Ultra-high adsorption capacity
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127363

[Display omitted] •The porous carbon with uniform surface and pore structure was prepared by cork.•Cork activated carbon had ultra-high specific surface area (3402.68 m2/g).•Cork activated carbon showed high uptake for cationic, anionic, and mixed dye.•Cork activated carbon had extremely low equilibrium adsorption time (∼10 min). Herein, the cork activated carbon (CAC) with excellent adsorption performance for cationic dye, anionic dye, and mixed dye was obtained by a two-step pyrolysis method. The CAC exhibits a fluffy honeycomb structure consisted of porous carbon nanosheets (100–200 nm), ultra-high specific surface area (3402.68 m2/g), and well-developed hierarchical porous structure, which offers a great deal of adsorption sites and transport channels to dye molecules. The adsorption process of all the dyes onto CAC is better described by Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-2nd-order kinetic model. The CAC shows ultra-high adsorption capacity for methylene blue (1283.99 mg/g), rhodamine B (4067.57 mg/g), methyl orange (2666.2 mg/g), and congo red (8920.61 mg/g), with an extremely low equilibrium adsorption time (∼10 min). Collectively, this study demonstrated the potential of converting waste cork into high value-added adsorbent for the efficient purification of dye wastewater.