Graphene oxide based carbon composite as adsorbent for Hg removal:
Preparation, characterization, kinetics and isotherms studies

Tayebeh Esfandiyari, Navid Nasirizadeh, Mohammad Dehghani, Mo-

hammad Hassan Ehrampoosh

PII: S1004-9541(16)31412-4
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2017.02.006
Reference: CJCHE 762

To appear in:

Received date: 22 December 2016

Revised date: 22 February 2017
Accepted date: 23 February 2017

Please cite this article as: Tayebeh Esfandiyari, Navid Nasirizadeh, Mohammad De-
hghani, Mohammad Hassan Ehrampoosh, Graphene oxide based carbon composite as
adsorbent for Hg removal: Preparation, characterization, kinetics and isotherms studies,
(2017), doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2017.02.006

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Separation Science and Engineering

Graphene Oxide based Carbon Composite as Adsorbent for Hg Removal:

Preparation, Characterization, Kinetics and Isotherms Studies

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Tayebeh Esfandiyari a, Navid Nasirizadeh b*, Mohammad Dehghani b, Mohammad hassan

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Ehrampoosh a

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a
. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Shaheed Sadoughi University of Medical
Sciences, Yazd, Iran
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b
Young Researchers and Elite Club, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran
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*Corresponding author. Tel: +98 351 8117711, Fax: +98 351 8117550
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Email addresses: nasirizadeh@yahoo.com

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Abstract

The presence of Hg in the aqueous media is known to cause severe health issues in both

humans and animals. Many technologies and especially adsorbents have been applied for its

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removal. In this study, a Graphene Oxide-Carbon Composite (GO-CC) as a new adsorbent was

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prepared by Sol Gel procedure and characterized using field emission scanning electron

microscopy, BET and EDX. The effects of different variables including solution pH, contact

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time, adsorbent dose and GO ratio in adsorbent matrix on the removal capacity of Hg were

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studied. The isotherm data correlated well with the Langmuir isotherm model. Further analysis

recommended that the Hg2+ adsorption process is governed by the intra-particle and external
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mass transfer, in which the film diffusion was the rate restrictive step. The presented composite

have maximum absorption capacity, qmax of 68.8 mg·g-1, which is comparable with carbon based
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adsorbent reported in the previous publications.

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Keywords: Adsorbent, Mercury Removal, Sol Gel, Carbon Composite.

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1 Introduction

Mercury (Hg) is one of the most harmful environmental contaminants, which gains high

harmfulness even at low concentrations 1. It is non-biodegradable and tends to cumulate in living

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tissues, posing a direct danger to human health 2. It is quite dangerous to human and living

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things, leading to a variety issues in spectrum health, include neurological hurts, disablement,

blindness, and genetic defects 3. In order to reduce the risks associated with metals pollutants, it

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is essential that wastewaters treated before released to the environment4. Hence, the removal and

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recovery of heavy metal ions from industrial waste water have been a noteworthy topics in most

industrial subdivisions5. The several technologies, such as chemical precipitation 6, liquid

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extraction 7, ionic exchange 8, membrane systems 9, and adsorption 10-11
, have been developed

over the years. The adsorption procedure has attracted extensive attention due to its simplicity
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and low cost. Numerous kinds of adsorbents, such as activated carbon 1, fly ash 12
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, Carbon
13 14 15 16
nanotubes , microorganisms , industrial and agricultural byproducts and clay minerals ,
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have been applied for the elimination of heavy metal ions from wastewater.
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On the other hand, making use of this kind of materials, their disorderly and unstable structure,
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the lack of model predictability and their incapability to eliminate the contaminants in trace

concentrations may be, for very acute applications, a weakness of these materials. Therefore,

study on development of novel technical and highly specific materials is of great concern 17.

The Graphene Oxide (GO), as an ideal two-dimensional material, is characterized by a great specific
surface area (2630 m2·g-1), determined from the monolayer carbon structure 18. In this sense, GO is an
best nonporous adsorbent, and sorption generally occurs on its planar surface (outside surface), escaping
from intra porous diffusion like that in porous carbon materials but only determined by external diffusion
since powdered GO with randomly aggregated structures have open ion channels, which results in a short
period to reach an adsorption equilibrium 19.

It is well known that sol-gel process be able to use in fields of materials science and ceramic

engineering, in which a colloidal solution (sol) is converted to an integrated network (gel) of

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either discrete particles or network polymers 20. The method allows the facile synthesis of stable

composite with improved efficiency and performance at ambient conditions 21. A lot of work has
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been done about the synthesis of nanocomposites by sol gel. For example, Wang et al. was

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produced a Chitosan–silica composite for elimination of Congo red from aquatic environment.
23

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Wu et al. was prepared a thiocyanato-functionalized silica gel as selective adsorbent of

cadmium (II). Mercaptopropyl-coated cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) magnetic nanoparticles as a

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suitable and effective adsorbent for Hg2+ ions was developed by Viltuznik et al. 24
. In

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continuation with the previous study, wherein, we have provided the multifunctional

(conductive-hydrophobic) textiles using a simple and cost effective sol–gel method 25.
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In this study, graphene oxide - carbon composite (GO-CC) was synthesized by sol gel

technique and used as an adsorbent to remove of Hg2+ from aqueous solution. Physicochemical
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properties of prepared adsorbent was characterized by FESEM, EDX and BET analysis. The

operational parameters including pH of the solution, ratio of GO in adsorbent matrix (wt%),

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adsorbent dosage (g·L-1) and contact time (min) were investigated to understand the adsorption
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process and also thermodynamic and isotherms parameters were determined.

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2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Materials
Graphite (KS-10), Potassium trimethylsilanolate (PTMS) (see chemical structure in scheme

S1), Sulfuric acid, Nitric acid, Methanol and HCl was supplied from Merck (Germany)

Company. Mercury nitrate monohydrate Hg (NO3)2, were purchased from Degussa (Germany).

Potassium chlorate was obtained from Sigma Aldrich. All chemicals were used as received
26
without further purification. GO was prepared according to the Staudenmaier method (see

Supporting Information file).

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2.2 Preparation of GO-Carbon Composite

The proposed procedure for construction of Graphene Oxide- carbon composite (GO-CC) as
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adsorbent by the sol gel as follows: First, a medium (4.0 ml) containing ethanol/water with

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volume ratio 9:1 was prepared and the pH was adjusted to 4.5 using 10 % HCl. Then, 20 μl

PTMS was added to the solution and agitated for 90 min to prehydrolyze the organosilane. After

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that, 3.0 g of mixture the synthesized GO and graphite (mass ratio 1:3 ) was immersed in the

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solution and stirred for 90 min. This was followed by evaporation of solvent at 45˚C to allow

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covalent bonding between the GO/ silanol groups/graphite. The dried-sample, i.e. cured

adsorbents were scoured with the 50/50 vol% ethanol/water solution for several times until
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eliminate unreacted organosilane and then dried at 50 °C for 24 h. The dried sample was

eventually well maintained in a desiccator for future use.

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2.3 Instruments
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A Buck Scientific atomic absorption spectrometer, model 210 VGP, was used for all
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absorption experiments. A mercury hollow cathode lamp (Westinghouse WL-22847) was

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applied as the light source, and its operating current was set to the value recommended by the

manufacturer. The wavelength and bandwidth were adjusted to 253.7 nm and 0.7 nm,

respectively. A Buck Scientific hydride vapor generator, model 1015, was applied for mercury

generation. The mercury was reduced to metallic mercury through tin (II) chloride, and the

mercury generator was worked out with N2 gas as carrier gas. The shape and surface morphology

of the GO- carbon composites (GO-CC) were examined by field emission scanning electron

microscope (FESEM, Mira 3-XMU) equipped with EDX (Bruker 127 eV) under an acceleration

voltage of 15 kV. The textural properties of GO-CC were also confirmed by N2

adsorption/desorption isotherms at 77 K using a Belsorp analyzer (BEL Japan Inc). The specific
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surface area (SBET) was determined by Brun- auer–Emmett–Teller (BET) technique. The textural

features of GO-CC are shown in Table 1. The pore size distribution was determined by means of

Barrett–Joyner– Halenda (BJH) method (Fig. S1). The point of zero charge (pHpzc) for GO-CC

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was determined by a Malvern zetameter (Zetasizer 2000). (See Fig. S2).

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2.4 Absorption Experiment

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The capability of the GO-CC to adsorb of the mercury ion from aqueous was determined using

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a batch of mercury nitrate aqueous solutions of known concentration. All the working Hg2+

solution (0.1 μg·g-1) were prepared using Hg (NO3)2 and DI water. Batch absorption investigates
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were carried out by optimization the solution pH, adsorbent dose, GO proportion in adsorbent

matrix, contact time using central composite design (CCD) (See design experiment part in
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Supporting Information File). The ranges of selected variables are presented in Table S1.

Briefly, in optimum condition, an accurately weighed adsorbent (45.0 mg) was added to 10 ml
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of Hg2+ (0.1 μg·g-1) placed in 100 ml capped Erlenmeyer flasks. After regulation of pH with 0.1
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mol·L-1 buffer phosphate solution at pH=6.6, the mixture was then agitated on a magnetic stirrer
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at 150 rpm for 95.0 min. The solution was immediately lastly filtrated. The Hg2+concentration in

the effluents was then determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS)

quipped with a hollow cathode lamp. Seven standard solutions were used to drawn each

calibration curve. All measurements were approved out in triplicate and no results were

established, if the standard deviation was more than 3 %.

The removal ratio of Hg2+ (Re, %) and the capacities for Hg2+ (qe, mg·g-1) were calculated by

equations 1 and 2.
(𝐶0 −𝐶𝑡 )
𝑅𝑒 = 𝐶0
× 100 (1)
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(C0 −C𝑡 )V
q𝑒 = (2)
M

Where, C0 and Ce are the initial and equilibrium Hg2+concentrations (μg·g-1). qe is the quantity

of Hg (mg·g-1) adsorbed on unit mass of adsorbent at equilibrium. V is the volume of solution

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(ml); and M is the mass of the adsorbent (g).

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3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Characterization of adsorbent

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Fig. 1 a and b displays a representative SEM images of a carbon composite (a) and GO based

carbon composite (b). The both composites having vastly porous morphology. Many graphene
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sheets was observed after addition of GO into carbon composite matrix, that reflecting the

folding nature wholly the morphology.

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An EDX analysis confirms the presence of several elements including C (74.31%), Al (0.70%),

K (4.16%), O (16.30%), Cl (0.57%) and Si (3.95%) (Fig. 1c) in the composite structure. The
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high BET surface area of the GO (280.7 m2/g) improved the morphology of the carbon
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composite and enhancement the surface area from 5.28 m2·g-1 (carbon composite) to 174.3 m2·g-1
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(GO-CC). The great surface area of the GO-CC composite increases the binding sites for Hg2+

ions in the solution. Pore volume average is 0.52 cm3·g-1 and pore size is 1.21 nm, which

corresponds to intra- and inter agglomerate pores.

The pHpzc of the GO-CC was 3.8 (see Fig. S2). Mostly, the surface of adsorbent is positively

charged at pH < pHpzc, and negatively charged at pH > pHpzc. The cationic adsorption is

preferred at pH > pHpzc; consequently, as could be seen at following, removal percentage was

higher for the pH = 5.0 - 7.0.

3.2 Analysis of the model

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The CCD plan (Tables S1 and S2) was used to assess the main interaction of four independent

variables (contact time (A), solution pH (B), GO ratio in adsorbent (C), and adsorbent dosage

(D)). The 30 experiments and their responses are presented in Table S2. To find the most

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important effects and interactions, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated using Design

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of Experiment 7.0.0.1 (Table S3). A p-value less than 0.05 in the ANOVA table shows the

statistical significance of an effect at 95% confidence level. F-test was used to evaluation the

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statistical significance of all terms in the polynomial equation within 95% confidence interval.

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Data analysis gave a semi-empirical expression of Hg2+removal percentage with following

equation:
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Removal of Hg2+= 70.25+2.05A - 5.82B+ 4.30C+ 0.17D+ 4.83AB+ 5.25AC-1.59AD -6.30BC-
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3.55BD-2.35CD-2.17A2-8.77B2 -11.0C2-2.87D2 ( 3)
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In Eq. (3), all the variables (A, C, and D) had positive effects on Hg elimination, but the value of
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C > A > D verified that the linear term influence of C was more significant than that of A and D,
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representing that the GO ratio in adsorbent matrix was the main factor influencing on Hg2+
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removal. We also establish the coefficient of interaction term C2 was clearly higher than that of

other coefficient; hence, the square of GO exhibit higher affinity to Hg2+.

3.3 Effect of variables on the adsorption process

Fig. 2 represent the relevant fitted 3D plots for the design and illustrate the response surface plots

of Hg2+ removal (%) versus change in variables. These graphs were drawn for a given pair of

factors at fixed and optimal values of other variables. The curvature natures of these graphs show

their interaction.
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Fig. 2a, illustrations the effect of the contact time and GO ratio in composite on the removal
2+
percentage of Hg ions by GO-CC using a 0.88 g·L-1 adsorbent dose at pH 6.5. The removal

percentage of Hg 2+ improved with increasing contact time from 20-95 min. The absorption level

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of Hg 2+ for GO-CC (as 5.0 % wt. GO was applied) was quick at the initial periods (0 – 60 min)
2+

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due to the adsorption of Hg ions onto the outside surface, and subsequently it became gentle
2+
when Hg ions move in the inner surfaces. The same trend can be seen with lower intensity

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when used 2.55 wt% GO. This might have been caused by a large quantity of unoccupied surface

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binding sites that were accessible for Hg adsorption during the initial period. Though, after a

certain time, the available sites were almost occupied and the residual vacant surface sites were
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difficult to be engaged due to the repulsive forces between the adsorbent molecules on the solid

and bulk phases 1, 13.

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Moreover, it was observed that the improvement of Hg removal was accompanied by an increase

of GO ratio in composite matrix from 0.1- 2.5 wt%, after which it starts decreasing. The
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improved adsorption capacity of the GO -carbon composite due to more adsorption sites for Hg
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2+ 27
ions in the presence of graphene sheets on carbon composite . With further increase in the
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GO ratio in carbon composite, the percentage removal was decreased from 75 % to 50 % at 95

min. The phenomenon could be described as a result of a partial aggregation of GO at higher

ratios, which results in a decrease in effective surface area for the Hg adsorption. The same

findings was observed by Wu et al and Shi et al regarding to reducing of removal rate due to

increasing of GO 28, 29.

The effect of the pH and adsorbent amount on the removal Hg 2+ ions efficiency from aqueous is

demonstrated in Fig. 2b when, time and graphene oxide are fixed at 95.0 min and 2.6 wt%

respectively. The solution pH has been known as the most important factor governing metal
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adsorption on the adsorbent. Once pH increased from 3.0 to 6.6, removal efficacy for Hg2+

harshly also enhanced. It has verified that at acidic pH, adsorption capacity was low, due to the
2+
competition of Hg ions with H+ ions 1, 13
. On the other hand, the high positive charge density

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on the GO surface at below pHzpc (3.8) was another reason. Hg 2+ ions in solution be theoretically

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existent as various species depending on the media pH. For example, Puanngam and Unob
30 2+ 2+
reported that Hg ions were exist as Hg , HgOH+ and Hg(OH)2 at different pHs. It was

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expected that when pH < 4, the dominant species in the Hg (II) solution would be Hg2+; while

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Hg(OH)+ and Hg(OH)2 species dominated at pH > 4. From the Fig. 1b, the perceived lower Hg 2+

removal at acidic pH (pH < pHpzc (3.8)) was maybe due to (i) rivalry between Hg2+ ions and H+
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or H3O+ ions existing in the solution for the available sites on the GO-CC composite and (ii)

protonation of the functional groups on GO sheets which induced the electrostatic repulsion with
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the Hg2+. When, the pH of the system increased (pH > pHpzc), adsorbent surface charged as
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negative and further functional groups would be accessible for metal ion binding due to
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deprotonation; thus high absorption is observed. Moreover, it had been reported about silicates
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that the reaction of the hydroxylated Hg(OH)2 with the functional group caused in the formation
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of -Si-HgOH and the binding ability could be superior than that of the protonated adsorbents
2+ 1, 3, 13, 31 2+ 2+
with Hg . The highest Hg removal was achieved at pH of 6.6. Furthermore, Hg

removal efficiency reduced with increment of pH from 7.0 to 10.0. When the pH value was
2+
upper than 10.0, the adsorption of Hg ions was practically not detected. It seems that

interaction between the Hg2+ ions and the absorbent surface is electrostatic and can be used once

more from composite with a mild acid washing.

As could be seen in Fig. 2b, Hg2+removal was improved slowly with the increase of the

adsorbent dosage from 0.1 to 0.88 g·L-1. This can be attributed to the increasing surface area and
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1, 13
accessibility of more adsorption sites, when the adsorbent dosage increased . However, the

removal of Hg2+ decreased as the adsorbent dosage increased upper than 0.9 g·L-1, since the

system reached to equilibrium at where the adsorption sites of adsorbent was stayed unsaturated

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with the fixed Hg2+ quantity in solution.

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3.4 Adsorption kinetics
32
The pseudo-first-order model (Lagergren model ) and pseudo-second order model (Ho and

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Mckay model 33) was applied for identify the process of Hg2+ adsorption onto the GO-CC.

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The first-order rate constant (k1) was calculated from the slopes and intercepts of plots of lg (qe –

qt) versus t. Besides, by plotting t/qt versus t, the second-order rate constant (k2) and qe values
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were concluded from the slope and intercepts of the plots. The mentioned plots and the

corresponding linear fittings are shown in Fig. S3 and S4 for the pseudo first and pseudo second
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order models, respectively. The kinetic adsorption rate constants k1 and k2 are shown in Table 2,

along with the experimental and calculated qe. As it may be seen, the removal of Hg2+ may be
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explained by the second-order kinetic model under the experimental conditions. Since, the model
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presents the best fit, presenting high R2 values (> 0.99) for Hg adsorption and the calculated qe
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agreed with the experimental data. This model declares that, the absorption rate be influenced by

the amount of mercury adsorbed on the surface of GO-CC absorbent and the amount adsorbed at

equilibrium.

3.5 Adsorption isotherms

In this study, the equilibrium data were adapted with two parameter isotherm models i.e.

Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R). These models correlate the

amount of solute adsorbed per unit weight of adsorbent, qe (mg·g-1), to the adsorbate
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concentration in solution at equilibrium, Ce (mg·L-1). The isotherm constants for each model was

calculated from the linearized Eqns. 6-9:

Langmuir: 1/qe = 1/CeqmaxKL + 1/qmax (6)

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Freundlich: lg qe = lg KF + (1/n) lg Ce (7)

Dubinin-Radushkevich1 (D-R): ln qe = ln qmax - βε2

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(8)

Temkin: qe = B ln KT+ B lnCe (9)

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Here, the qmax (mg·g-1) is the maximum adsorption capacity. KL (mg-1) is the Langmuir constants

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related to the monolayer adsorption capacity and the adsorption free energy (KL= e-ΔG/RT). KF

(mg·g-1·mg-1/n) is the Freundlich constant related to adsorption capacity and n is the heterogeneity
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factor. β (mmol2·J-2) and ε (-) are the D-R constants. The constant ε = RT ln (1 + 1/Ce), R is the

gas constant, 8.3145 J· mol-1·K-1 and T is the absolute temperature in K. B is correspond to the
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heat of adsorption, which equal to RT/bT and KT is the equilibrium binding constant (g-1).
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The Langmuir, Freundlich, D-R and Temkin models constant were calculated respectively, from
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the plot between the values of (i) lg qe and lg Ce , (ii) (1/qe ) and (1/Ce), (iii) ln qe and ε2 and (iv)
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qe and ln Ce.
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The adsorption isotherm graphs of Hg +2 on the GO-CC was presented in Fig. S5. The relative

parameters calculated from the Langmuir, D-R, Temkin and Freundlich models are listed in

Table 3. A high correlation coefficient represents the well agreement between experimental and

anticipated data. The value of correlation coefficient of Langmuir is greater (>0.99) than the

others (i.e. the Freundlich (0.981), D-R (0.856) and Temkin (0.941)). Hence, the Langmuir

equation represents best fit of experimental data over other models, and this results are in

agreement with the other previously reported works 34-42.

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In addition, the calculated values of Qm are found to be 68.8 mg·g-1, which are very close to its

experimental values. The capacity of GO CC adsorbent for Hg was compared with other
34-42
adsorbents . As it can be seen in Table 4, the adsorption capacity of proposed composite is

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comparable with carbon based adsorbent reported in the previous publications.

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3.6 Thermodynamic Studies

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Effect of temperature on Hg2+ removal was also assessed at the Hg2+ initial concentration of 800

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ppm and the temperature range of 303–333 K. The thermodynamics parameters likely, changes

in standard Gibbs free energy (ΔG°), standard enthalpy (ΔH°), and standard entropy (ΔS°) were
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determined by the van’t Hoff model, which supposed that the activity coefficient of the solutes

used in the solution was unity 43.

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k= qe/Ce (10)

ΔG°= −RTln k (11)

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ΔG° = ΔH°−T ΔS° (12)

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ln k = (T ΔS° − ΔH°)/RT (13)

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In the lately mentioned equations, k is the distribution adsorption coefficient, qe (mg·g-1) and Ce

(mg·L-1) are the adsorption capacity of adsorbent and adsorbate concentration at equilibration; R

is the universal gas constant (8.314 J·mol-1·K-1), T is the absolute temperature (K). The diagram

of ln k versus 1/T gets a straight-line with the slope of ΔH° (kJ·mol-1) and intercepts of ΔS°

(kJ·mol-1·K-1) as presented in Fig. S6. The calculated values of thermodynamics parameters were

represented in Table 5. The negative Gibbs free energy change ΔG° prove that the adsorption of

Hg2+ onto GO-CC was a thermodynamically possible and spontaneous process 27

. The value of

ΔG° is increasing with increment of the temperature, which is representing more favorable and
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34
spontaneous adsorption at a higher temperature . In addition, the positive value the enthalpy

ΔH° suggest that the Hg 2+ adsorbed onto GO based composite was endothermic in nature, and a

higher adsorption capacity would be acquired with a higher temperature. The positive value of

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ΔS° reflected that the randomness improved at the solid–solute interface during Hg2+ adsorption

onto GO-CC, also the good affinity of GO-CC for Hg2+.

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4 Conclusion

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2+
In the present study, removal of Hg from aqueous solutions by adsorption on the graphene

oxide based carbon composite (GO-CC) was surveyed. The GO-CC was prepared using the sol
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gel technique. FESEM images clearly shown porous structure and graphene oxide sheets on the

composites surface. The adsorption of Hg2+ on the GO-CC increases with increment of the time
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and GO ratio in composite matrix, and achieves the highest value of 68.8 mg/g. In addition, the

study shown the best explanation for the experimental data of GO-CC for Hg2+ from aqueous
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solution was given by the Langmuir isotherm equation, and the adsorption kinetics could be
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followed by the pseudo second order rate equation wonderfully. The thermodynamic parameters
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of adsorption include ΔG, ΔH and ΔS were -1.89 kJ·mol-1 (30 °C), 14.71 kJ·mol-1, and 54.93

kJ·K-1·mol-1, respectively. As a result, the good adsorption capability made GO-CC be a

favorable candidate adsorbent for mercury removal from aqueous solutions.

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Figure Captions:

Figure 1. FESEM image of carbon composite (a), graphene oxide - carbon composite (b)

prepared by sol gel and c) elemental analysis of prepared composites.

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Figure 2. Response Surface Plot of a) contact time vs GO ratio in composite, when pH and
adsorbent dose in constant at 6.5 and 0.88 g, and b) Solution pH vs adsorbent dose on removal of

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Hg 2+ ion at constant values of 95 min as contact time and 2.6 %wt. as GO ratio. (The blue color

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represents lowest and red indicates the highest removal efficiency).

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Figure 1.

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c
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Figure 2.

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Table 1 Textural properties obtained by N2 adsorption/ desorption studies

Parameters Test Values
BET surface area /m2·g-1 BET a 174.30
Pore volume /cm3·g-1 BJH adsorption b 0.52

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Pore diameter /nm BJH adsorption 1.21
a Computed in the P/P0 range 0.05–0.50.

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b BJH (Barrett Joyner Halenda) cumulative adsorption pore volume for pores in range of 0 and 5.00nm diameter.

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Table 2. Kinetics parameters for Hg2+ adsorption on GO based Carbon composites

Pseudo-first order Pseudo-second order

Q max (exp.)
/mg·g-1 k1 Qe (cal.) Qe (cal.)
R2 k2 min−1 R2
/min−1 mg·g-1 mg·g-1

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68.8 0.0230 57.5 0.971 0.003 65.7 0.997

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Table 3 Isotherm parameters for Hg2+ adsorption on GO- Carbon composites.

Langmuir Freundlich
qmax KL R2 KF N R2
68.8 0.142 0.993 0.874 1.275 0.981

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Dubinin–Radushkevich Temkin
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qmax Β /kJ·mol- R2 KT bT R2

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0.04
76.3 3.355 0.856 304.3 96.46 0.941

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Table 4. Comparison of adsorption capacity against similar adsorbents

Adsorbent Qmax Fitted Isotherm Reference

Novel polydithiocarbamate 22.03 Langmuir 2
MWCNTS 25.641 Freundlich 34

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Activated carbon prepared from mango kernel 15.98 Langmuir 35

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Thiol -functionalized graphene oxide 107.52 Langmuir 36

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Graphene Oxide foam 35 Langmuir 37
Polyaniline (PANI) - Graphene Oxide (GO)
80.7 Langmuir 38
Composite

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Xanthate functionalized magnetic graphene
118.55 Langmuir 39
oxide (Fe3O4-xGO) MA
exfoliated Graphene Oxide-L-Cystine 79.36 Langmuir 40
Langmuir and
Carbon Aerogel 34.96 41
Freundlich
Langmuir and
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Carbon Aerogel 45.62 42

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Graphene Oxide-Carbon Composite 68.8 Langmuir This Work

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Table 5. Thermodynamic parameters of Hg2+ adsorption onto GO-CC.

Temperature /K ΔG°/kJ·mol-1 ΔH° /kJ·mol-1 ΔS°/kJ·mol-1·K-1

303 -1.89672 14.71 54.93
313 -2.57325

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323 -2.93678
333 -3.60597

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Graphical abstract
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