Characterization of graphene oxide supported porous silica for effectively enhancing adsorption of dyes

ABSTRACT

This paper reported the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO)/mesoporous SBA-15 nanocomposite with excellent adsorption properties. The samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman spectrometer, and surface area analyzer. The adsorption study implied that incorporating GO into SBA-15 frameworks displayed much higher adsorption capacity levels than did pure SBA-15. The composite displayed uniform pore size (6.50 nm), large pore volume (1.035 cm³/g), and high surface area (891 m²/g). The adsorption capacity of samples decreased with increasing sample dosage and adsorption temperature, and increasing initial concentration of dye. The maximum adsorption capacity of the composite for methylene blue was found to be 242 mg/g. The removal efficiency reached 100%. The proposed method was simple and suitable for mass production.