Enhanced adsorption performance for antibiotics by alcohol-solvent mediated boron nitride nanosheets

The development of high-efficient adsorbents for the treatment of antibiotics from contaminated water has been of great concern. This work introduced an alcohol-solvent mediated strategy to increase the specific surface area (SSA) and porosity of hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) for improving tetracycline (TC) removal efficiency. The BNNSs synthesized with the mediation of n-propanol solvent (BN-P) exhibited the largest pore volume and relatively high SSA (increased by 34% and 64%, respectively, compared with that synthesized under the mediation of water) in its structure, which in turn facilitated the mass transfer of TC molecules onto BN-P framework. The remarkable adsorption performance of BN-P, with 20% increase in equilibrium adsorption capacity and Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity of 556 mg center dot g(-1), was achieved for capturing TC within just 3 h, which is mainly through pi-pi interaction and electrostatic force. Pseudo-second kinetics equation can well illustrate the adsorption process, while Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models fitted the equilibrium data well. Thermodynamics study demonstrated a spontaneous exothermal adsorption process. Furthermore, the strong environmental suitability and notable recycling performance of BN-P revealed its good application prospect in removing antibiotic TC from wastewater.

Automated summary

The study introduced an alcohol-solvent mediated strategy to improve the adsorption efficiency of hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets for tetracycline removal from contaminated water. The BNNSs synthesized with n-propanol solvent exhibited the largest pore volume and relatively high specific surface area, resulting in enhanced adsorption performance and potential application prospect in wastewater treatment.