Effect of oxidation treatment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the adsorption of pentachlorophenol from aqueous solution: Kinetics study

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were oxidized using different oxidizing agents and the produced oxidized MWCNTs were characterized using different techniques. IR measurements showed the presence of carboxylic acid function groups especially for the MWCNTs oxidized with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The adsorption of pentachlorophenol (PCP) to pristine and oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) has been studied. The results showed that the oxidation of the MWCNTs decreased their abilities to adsorb PCP compared with the pristine MWCNTs. The adsorption was studied kinetically and the results showed that the adsorption process occurs in two different steps. The first step involves the transfer of PCP to the surface of the oxidized MWCNTs, which was very fast due to the diffusion of PCP from the liquid phase to the solid phase. This step followed by a second slower step of adsorption could be due to intra-particle diffusion.