Porous activated carbon/graphene oxide composite for efficient adsorption of pharmaceutical contaminants

The use of carbon-based materials in water treatment has gained significant interest due to their high surface area, tunable surface chemistry, and feasibility of application. In this study, we demonstrate that combining activated carbon (AC) with graphene oxide (GO) results in an AC/GO composite with improved adsorption efficiency for pharmaceutical contaminants such as bisphenol A and paracetamol. The AC/GO presented an increase of oxygen groups identified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman analysis and supported by ab initio calculations. AC/GO showed a specific surface area of 883 m2 g-1, which is smaller than the surface area of the AC (1017 m2 g-1). The maximum adsorption achieved using AC was 234.7 and 200.9 mg g-1 for bisphenol A and paracetamol, respec-tively. The adsorption was increased by AC/GO to 239.9 and 222.6 mg g-1 for bisphenol A and paracetamol, respectively. The effect of pH on the adsorption efficiency of both AC and AC/GO was favored at pH values below 10. The thermodynamic studies for AC/GO confirmed that the adsorption of both contaminants was a thermodynamically feasible, spontaneous, and an exothermic process. The combination of AC with GO moves towards obtaining new solid-phase materials with improved adsorbent abilities. (c) 2023 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.