Highly porous zirconium-crosslinked graphene oxide/alginate aerogel beads for enhanced phosphate removal

The decontamination of excessive phosphate by Zr-based nanomaterials has attracted great attention. However, the insufficient phosphate sorption capacities and separation difficulties significantly restrict the potential applications. Herein, the newly designed zirconium-crosslinked graphene oxide/alginate (Zr-GO/Alg) aerogel beads were synthesized through a facile in situ crosslinking method, and their phosphate uptake performance were examined in the aqueous environment under different conditions. Characterization results showed that the incorporation of GO endowed the composite beads with a more porous and reinforced structure. The maximum sorption capacity was 189.06 mg P/g and the isotherm data were well fitted to the Freundlich model. Fixed-bed column experiments showed a large throughput of similar to 1050 BV, with phosphate concentration of effluents lower than 0.5 mg/L. Apart from the remarkable phosphate uptake performance, the fast adsorption rate at initial stage as well as easy separation feature of Zr-GO/Alg aerogel beads rendered them to become promising and environmental- friendly adsorbentfor phosphate uptake from polluted water.