Non-covalent functionalized graphene oxide (GO) adsorbent with an organic gelator for co-adsorption of dye, endocrine-disruptor, pharmaceutical and metal ion

The two-component organic gelator 1-OA (tetrazolyl derivative (1) and octadecylamine (OA)) functionalized graphene oxide (GO) composite was fabricated via non-covalent interactions as a super adsorbent GO/1-OA, which displayed unprecedented adsorption capacity for different pollutants (dyes, endocrine-disruptor, pharmaceutical and metal ion). 1-OA played certain roles in the adsorption process: (1) to stabilize the super adsorbent GO/1-OA by non-covalent forces; (2) to endow the adsorbent with synergistic non-covalent interactions as active sites not only to remove various pollutants in their single system, but also to simultaneous co-adsorb their binary, ternary and quaternary pollutants mixture; (3) to provide GO/1-OA with hydrophobic effect, enabling it can be more easily separated and collected than conventional adsorbent via standing without any filtration or centrifugation. More importantly, the regeneration and reuse of the adsorbent was achieved by simply washing the pollutant off with ethanol.