Novel hydrophobic cotton fibers adsorbent for the removal of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution

• Super hydrophobic cotton fibers (HCF) were synthesized through grafting reaction on fiber surfaces.
• The contact angle of HCF was 152°.
• The monolayer adsorption capacity of nitrobenzene onto HCF was found to be 16.85 mg/g at 30 °C.
• The equilibrium data fit the Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

In order to improve the superhydrophobic and oil-wet properties of raw cotton fibers come from Jiangsu province, China. A novel adsorbent, hydrophobic cotton fibers (HCF) with an excellent superhydrophobic and larger length was synthesized via modified sol–gel method and examined for the removal of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution. Results show that the treated raw cotton fibers exhibited outstanding non-wettability with the WCA of 152° and the larger length of 0.2–0.4 cm, which offers an opportunity to separation in for the removal of nitrobenzene. It was found that adsorption isotherm and kinetics of nitrobenzene onto HCF were well described by the Freundlich and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively. The thermodynamic data showed that the nitrobenzene adsorption onto HCF was a spontaneous, endothermic and physisorption reaction. The monolayer adsorption capacity of nitrobenzene was found to be 16.85 mg/g at 30 °C.