title: Biopolymer-induced morphology control of brushite for enhanced defluorination of drinking water.
abstract: Due to the relatively lower potential health risks as well as the good affinity for fluoride anion, calcium-based minerals have been widely carried out for the adsorption of fluoride. The improvement of adsorption capacity can be accomplished by regulation of particle size, shape and structure. Thus, here we report the controllable synthesis of petal-like nanosheets of brushite by using chitosan as a regulator. The addition of chitosan polymer in calcium precursor not only could serve ideal nucleation sites but also could play a vital role in confining the calcium phosphate aggregates and thus controlling the size of the brushite flakes. When the concentration of chitosan was 0.01wt%, the as-synthesized brushite showed nanosheet-structured with the dimensions ranged from 100 to 200nm and displayed outstanding fluoride adsorption capacity of 231.5mg/g according to the fitted Langmuir model, which was comparatively higher than that of the previously reported calcium-based adsorbents. Moreover, the pH change and common co-existing anions in solution almost presented less negative effect on the F-adsorption onto petal-like brushite nanosheets. We hope that these petal-like nanosheets based on green nanotechnology can help to achieve the intention of safe drinking water.
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, 201620, China. Electronic address: shencs@dhu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chensi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Babar Aijaz
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, 201620, China.
authors.forename: Jianshe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D005461:Fluorine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; D060766:Drinking Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D005461:Fluorine; C494366:calcium phosphate, dibasic, dihydrate
keywords: Adsorption; Brushite; Chitosan polymer; Defluorination; Drinking water; Morphology control