Chitosan-functionalized graphene oxide: A novel adsorbent an efficient adsorption of arsenic from aqueous solution

•Chitosan-GO as an excellent adsorbent for arsenic adsorption.•Physico-chemical characterization of the adsorbent was studied in detail.•The maximum adsorption capacities were found to be 71.9 mg g−1.•The adsorbent can be effectively reused to three adsorption desorption cycles.•Regeneration of the adsorbent was accomplished by using NaOH.

Nowadays, there is a wide variety of arsenic decontamination processes being adsorption processes the most efficient. In this concern, chitosan functionalized graphene oxide (GO), have been proposed as an efficient adsorbent to improve arsenic adsorption from aqueous solutions. The chitosan functionalized GO adsorbent acts as a good host of welcoming the incoming guest, arsenic oxyanion and several interesting interactions such as cation–π interaction, (RNH3+---aromatic π moiety), electrostatic interaction (H2AsO4−, HAsO42−----+NH3R), inter and intermolecular hydrogen bonding as well as anion–π interaction (R-COO−---aromatic π moiety), (R–O−---aromatic π moiety), could be conceptualized in this process, the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups on the adsorbent surfaces play an important role on As(V)/As(III) adsorption. The prepared chitosan-GO adsorbent was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analysis, powder-X-ray diffraction (powder-XRD), transmission electron microscopes (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) studies. The capability of ICP-MS for As(III)/As(V) adsorption was extensively studied under different optimal parameters in aqueous solutions, the applicability of this method is demonstrated economical and practical applications for efficient adsorption of arsenic from aqueous solutions.

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