Accelerated sorption of boron from aqueous solution by few-layer hydrotalcite nanosheets

Boron is toxic to humans and animals at high concentrations. Hydrotalcite (HT) is an anion clay mineral capable of removing boron from water. In this work, the strategy of delamination of hydrotalcite was proposed and demonstrated to be effective in accelerating the boron sorption. Few-layer hydrotalcite (FHT) nanosheets were facilely obtained via rinsing the co-precipitated HT with acetone before final isolation, and achieved boron sorption equilibrium about 10 times faster than HT. The 2D nanosheet morphology helped FHT not only to disperse more fully in boron solution but also to expose more active sites on its external surface. As a result, the route for boron transferring from bulk solution to active sorption sites was effectively shortened on FHT, which finally induced a rapid boron removal.