Fast and mild alkaline solvothermal synthesis of nanostructured flower-like Na2Ti3O7 and its methylene blue adsorption capacity

This work reports a facile solvothermal synthesis of hierarchical flower-like Na2Ti3O7 structures with fast and high methylene blue adsorption capacity. A mesoporous architecture of Na2Ti3O7 with a surface area of 159.63 m(2)-g(-1) was produced under mild alkaline conditions (2 M NaOH) and a short reaction time (8 h). Interestingly, methylene blue adsorption equilibrium on the Na2Ti3O7 powders was achieved in a short time of 10 min. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model described the adsorption mechanism. The synthesized Na2Ti3O7 powders have interesting features that highlight their suitability for environmental applications. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This work presents a facile solvothermal synthesis method to prepare hierarchical flower-like Na2Ti3O7 structures with fast and high adsorption capacity for methylene blue. The mesoporous Na2Ti3O7 structure with a large surface area was obtained under mild alkaline conditions and short reaction time. The adsorption equilibrium for methylene blue was achieved quickly, suggesting the potential environmental applications of the synthesized Na2Ti3O7 powders.