Amino Carbon Nanotube Modified Reduced Graphene Oxide Aerogel for Oil/Water Separation

Abstract

In this work, reduced graphene oxide/amino multi-walled carbon nanotube (rGO/MWCNTs-NH ) aerogel has been successfully fabricated 2 through the chemical reaction between carboxyl groups on graphene oxide (GO) and amino groups on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-NH ) in combination with freeze-drying and high-temperature annealing process. The optimal condition for fabrication of 2 rGO/MWCNTs-NH aerogel is mass ratio of MWCNTs-NH to GO = 1:8 with GO concentration of 2 mg mL . In addition, owing to the -1 2 2 strong chemical bonding between amino groups on MWCNTs and carboxyl groups on GO, the improved hydrophobic property and microstructures of rGO/MWCNTs-NH aerogel are obtained confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron 2 microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurement. After that, the adsorption tests and oil/water separation experiments prove that the rGO/MWCNTs-NH aerogel possesses an excellent adsorption performance for various organic solvents 2 and oil including ethyl acetate (152.79 g g ), cyclohexane (122.46 g g ), acetone (219.54 g g ), dichloromethane (242.31 g g ), and sesame oil -1 -1 -1 -1 (156.35 g g ), and achieves a high efficiency of oil/water separation within only 25 s. Our rGO/MWCNTs-NH aerogel is expected to be a -1 2