Understanding the environmental behaviors of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets in granular porous media can inform the development of novel strategies for soil and groundwater remediation. A range of laboratory stability, batch sorption, and sand column experiments were conducted to determine the role of temperature in controlling the aggregation, retention, and transport of GO in porous media under various conditions. Temperature showed strong effects on GO aggregation kinetics in aqueous solutions under all tested conditions. Its increase promoted GO aggregation in both monovalent (Na+ and K+) and divalent (Ca2+) solutions. Although results from batch sorption experiment showed that temperature affected the sorption of GO onto the sand grains, the interactions between GO and the sand were relatively weak at low ionic strength (IS). Under high IS conditions, temperature also showed notable effects on GO retention and transport in porous media. For all the combinations of experimental conditions, the higher the temperature was, the less mobile GO particles were. The importance of temperature to GO retention and transport in porous media was further verified though simulations from an advection–dispersion-reaction model.

Effects of temperature on aggregation, retention, and transport of graphene oxides in granular porous media

255th National Meeting (2018)

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