Preparation and characterization of graphene oxide/silk fibroin hybrid aerogel for dye and heavy metal adsorption

Abstract It is an urgent task to develop a green and highly efficient adsorbent for wastewater treatment. Herein, we prepared a graphene oxide (GO) based aerogel modified by silk fibroin (SF) and firstly investigated its adsorption properties to realize this aim. SEM, XPS, XRD, Raman and TG characterization demonstrate its well pore structure, larger d-spacing and more oxidation groups after modified. The adsorption experiments of different dyes and heavy metal ions revealed that GO-SF aerogels have favorable adsorption capacity for Ag + and MB dye (cationic dyes). The MB adsorption capacity is up to 1322.71 mg/g, higher than other GO-biopolymer materials. Furthermore, Langmuir isotherm, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the intrapartile diffusion model are used to explain the adsorption mechanism of the GO-SF aerogels and shows the hybrid aerogels are inclined to monolayer adsorption. The obtained results found a potential candidate to better deal with the dyeing wastewater.