Removal performance and its mechanism of phenol, bisphenol A (BPA) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) from water was performed using self-synthesized graphene-based materials, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The adsorption performance was investigated using batch experiments. The surface properties and reaction mechanisms of graphene materials are important to be studied for the potential environmental application. Emerging contaminant (EC) such as tetrabromobisphenol A, bisphenol A and its relative compound, phenol, were chosen to compare their degradation and adsorptive behaviour onto GO and rGO and also to understand thermodynamic effect. The reaction mechanism, molecular interaction and spectroscopic analysis were also examined for the behaviour of graphene materials on BPA, phenol and TBBPA. rGO showed a high affinity to phenol, BPA and TBBPA than GO due to its identified hydrophobic effect, higher surface area, hydrogen bonding and π- π bonding interactions. According to the by-products, debromination of TBBPA in rGO was enhanced strongly due to its reduced power. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm models were elucidated using pseudo-first –order, pseudo- second-order kinetics and Freundlich and Langmuir models, respectively. With the temperature increased, the adsorption of the two selected organic contaminants on these graphene materials increased. The positive value of ΔH indicated the endothermic nature. The negative value of ΔG indicated the spontaneous reaction of phenol, BPA and TBBPA on graphene materials. These findings indicate that rGO is a promising treatment agent compared to GO, for the removal of phenol, BPA and TBBPA from aqueous solution. Due to its excellent removal performance, rGO can be of great significance for remediation of emerging chemicals from environment.

Reactivity of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide toward Tetrabromobisphenol A, Bisphenol A, and phenol from water: Reaction mechanism and thermodynamic effects

256th National Meeting (2018)

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