Facile Preparation of Thiolated Reduced Graphene Oxide Aerogels for Efficient Removal of Cu(II) Ion from Water

In our research, thiolated reduced graphene oxide aerogels (TrGOAs) was successfully prepared by using graphene oxide (GO) as precursor and sodium hydrosulfide (NaSH) as reductant via a one-pot one-step hydrothermal route under normal pressure and a subsequent freeze-drying, used as a novel carbon-based adsorptive material for adsorbing Cu(II) ions from deionized water. These aerogels show excellent adsorption ability towards Cu(II) ions, which have a huge adsorption amount around 421.21 mg·g −1 . We studied the mechanism of the adsorption process of TrGOA-5, and the results found that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm model were able to describe this process well. We also explored the interference of pH values in copper ion solutions during this adsorption process, suggesting that increasing pH is good for obtaining a higher adsorption capacity. In addition, solid-liquid separation can be readily realized by filtration and centrifugation after the end of the adsorption experiment. Overall, this research offers a relatively simple and cut-price strategy to obtain thiolated reduced graphene oxide aerogels, and these novel graphene-based adsorbents have a superior adsorption ability and recyclability in segregating copper ions from polluted water.