A 3D porous carbon foam loaded with Fe3O4/graphene oxide for highly effective As(iii) removal

Abstract

A 3D porous carbon foam (CF) loaded with Fe₃O₄/graphene oxide (GO) has been successfully fabricated. As expected, the saturated adsorption capacity of the resulting Fe₃O₄/GO–CF composite toward As(III) can reach up to 111 mg g⁻¹, superior to those of most of the reported Fe-containing adsorbents. Additionally, the obtained Fe₃O₄/GO–CF exhibits excellent As(III) removal performance after five absorption–regeneration cycles with more than 70% of removal efficiency. The exceptional arsenic removal performance can be ascribed to its unique 3D porous network structure as well as fully exposed sorption sites originating from Fe₃O₄ particles. Finally, the macroscopic size and magnetic feature of the Fe₃O₄/GO–CF monolith are favorable for facile separation after adsorption. Therefore, the hierarchically porous Fe₃O₄/GO–CF monolith is highly expected to find many potential applications in arsenic-contaminated water remediation.