Title : Smart graphene oxide-based composite materials for selective adsorption
Abstract:
The protection of the environment is a significant concern, and the remediation of polluted water has become a key area of research. This has resulted in the development and enhancement of a range of techniques for the degradation, coagulation, adsorption or filtration of pollutants. Among these remediation techniques, effective adsorption using polymeric hydrogels represents a field of intensive research due to the material's pronounced affinity for water, high specific surface area, modulable porosity, and the presence of functional groups on the polymer chains. These properties can be modified by incorporating fillers into the hydrogels to create composites. The advancement of such stimulable composite materials and a more comprehensive understanding of the correlation between properties and structure represent significant scientific challenges within this field.
In this context, we have synthesised graphene oxide platelet nanofillers [1], which we have introduced into cross-linked hydrogels with the objective of optimising the development of composite hydrogels. The morphology and chemical structure of the graphene oxide nanofillers and composites were characterised using electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The rheological, swelling and dye adsorption properties were investigated as a function of the initial polymer and graphene oxide concentrations. It has been demonstrated that the greatest enhancement in viscoelastic and adsorption properties is achieved with a higher concentration of graphene oxide, as evidenced by the analysis of experimental data employing a first-order kinetic model. A correlation between the swelling, adsorption, viscoelastic and structural properties of the composites is proposed.
