Constructing Three-Dimensional Hierarchical Architectures by Integrating Carbon Nanofibers into Graphite Felts for Water Purification

Developing high-performance nanostructured sorbents for water treatment is of great importance. Herein, we report a facile strategy to fabricate three-dimensional hierarchical architectures by integrating carbon nanofibers (CNFs) into macroscopic graphite felt (GF) supports. The physicochemical properties of CNF@GF monoliths including surface areas, densities, porosities, and pore structures could be conveniently tuned by varying reaction time. The CNF@GF monoliths were utilized as advanced sorbents for the removal of Pb2+, Congo red, organic solvents, and oils from aqueous solutions. The characteristics of adsorption processes including kinetics, isotherms, and regeneration were investigated. It is demonstrated that the CNF@GF exhibits outstanding performance for water treatment in terms of adsorption capacities, recovering, and recyclability. As such, the versatile CNS@GF monoliths show great application potential for water treatment.