Porous Cotton/Magnesium Silicate Composite Films as High-Performance Adsorbents for Organic Dye Removal

Shao-Wei Bian*, Ya-Li Huang, Yuan Yue and Wen Zhang

Abstract: Layered silicates are a promising adsorbent for removing various pollutants from wastewater. Herein, a cotton/magnesium silicate composite film is successfully synthesized with a hierarchically porous structure. The composite film can be separated from the treated solution and avoid the potential risk of secondary pollution. The porous magnesium silicate spheres constructed by thin nanosheets are in situ deposited on the surface of cotton fibers using silica spheres as the template under the hydrothermal condition, showing a high specific surface area of 523.1 m2 g-1. Due to the presence of abundant adsorption sites and effective diffusion paths, the composite film exhibits an excellent adsorption property to methylene blue (194.4 mg g-1). The adsorption isotherms and mechanisms are also briefly investigated.

Colloids and Surfaces A, 2021, accepted.