Issue 2, 2016

Macroporous three-dimensional graphene oxide foams for dye adsorption and antibacterial applications

Abstract

Several reports illustrate the wide range applicability of graphene oxide (GO) in water remediation. However, a few layers of graphene oxide tend to aggregate under saline conditions thereby reducing its activity. The effects of aggregation can be minimized by having a random arrangement of GO layers in a three dimensional architecture. The current study emphasizes the potential benefits of highly porous, ultralight graphene oxide foams in environmental applications. These foams were prepared by a facile and cost effective lyophilization technique. The 3D architecture allowed the direct use of these foams in the removal of aqueous pollutants without any pretreatment such as ultrasonication. Due to its macroporous nature, the foams exhibited excellent adsorption abilities towards carcinogenic dyes such as rhodamine B (RB), malachite green (MG) and acriflavine (AF) with respective sorption capacities of 446, 321 and 228 mg g−1 of foam. These foams were also further investigated for antibacterial activities against E. coli bacteria in aqueous and nutrient growth media. The random arrangement of GO layers in the porous foam architecture allowed it to exhibit excellent antibacterial activity even under physiological conditions by following the classical wrapping-perturbation mechanism. These results demonstrate the vast scope of GO foam in water remediation for both dye removal and antibacterial activity.

Graphical abstract: Macroporous three-dimensional graphene oxide foams for dye adsorption and antibacterial applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Sep 2015
Accepted
16 Dec 2015
First published
18 Dec 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 1231-1242

Author version available

Macroporous three-dimensional graphene oxide foams for dye adsorption and antibacterial applications

S. Jayanthi, N. KrishnaRao Eswar, S. A. Singh, K. Chatterjee, G. Madras and A. K. Sood, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 1231 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA19925E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements