Triethylenetetramine/hydroxyethyl cellulose-functionalized graphene oxide monoliths for the removal of copper and arsenate ions

Nitrogen-doped graphene oxide monoliths (GOMs) were readily constructed by crosslinking graphene oxide (GO) using triethylenetetramine (TETA) and hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). The addition of HEC was beneficial to the formation of a network structure compared to that in the absence of HEC. The generated monoliths have shown various morphologies with different d spacing, layer thickness, and micropore size. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses provided evidences for the formation of covalent C–N bonds and some nitrogen-containing heterocyclic composition inside the graphene oxide sheet, indicating that the interaction of GO with the amine crosslinker involved the crosslinking reaction between GO epoxides and amine groups. HEC was also involved in the N-doping reaction via the partial reduction of oxygen in HEC molecules. Analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that the lattice distance between GO sheets increased after TETA/HEC crosslinking. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) confirmed the successful incorporation of crosslinker moieties on the surface of GO sheets. The fabricated GOMs could be used to efficiently adsorb metal ions and arsenate by the introduced polar functional groups on GO sheets and porous structures based on hydrogen bonds, whose morphologies and compositions were confirmed via XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).