title: Alumina nanofibers grafted with functional groups: a new design in efficient sorbents for removal of toxic contaminants from water.
abstract: A new design in efficient sorbents for the removal of trace pollutants from water was proposed: grafting the external surface of gamma-alumina (gamma-Al(2)O(3)) nanofibers with functional groups that have a strong affinity to the contaminants. This new grafting strategy greatly improves the accessibility of these sorption sites to adsorbates and thus efficiency of the fibrous sorbents. The product sorbents could capture the pollutants selectively even when the concentration of the contaminants is extremely low. Two types of gamma-Al(2)O(3) nanofibers with different size were prepared via facile hydrothermal methods. Thiol groups were then grafted on the gamma-Al(2)O(3) fibers by refluxing the toluene solution of 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS). The thiol group modified fibers not only can efficiently remove heavy metal ions (Pb(2+) and Cd(2+)) from water at a high flux, but also display high sorption capacity under sorption equilibrium conditions. Similar result was obtained from the nanofibers grafted with octyl groups which are employed to selectively adsorb highly diluted hydrophobic 4-nonylphenol molecules from water. This study demonstrates that grafting nanofibers is a new and effective strategy for developing efficient sorbents.
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Dongjiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Blain
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Wujun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Erming
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xuebin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Wellard
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yuhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Huaiyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000302:isolation & purification; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010636:Phenols / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010636:Phenols; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C041594:4-nonylphenol; D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D009584:Nitrogen