Adsorption of hexavalent chromium by polyacrylonitrile-based porous carbon from aqueous solution

Owing to the unique microporous structure and high specific surface area, porous carbon could act as a good carrier for functional materials. In this paper, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based porous carbon materials (PPC-0.6-600, PPC-0.8-600, PPC-0.6-800 and PPC-0.8-800) were prepared by heating KOH at 600°C and 800^oC for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. The adsorbent was characterized by the techniques of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elementary analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N₂ adsorption techniques. The results showed that the adsorption capacity increased with decreasing pH value of the initial solution. The adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) on PPC-0.8-800 was much greater than that on other materials, and maximum adsorption capacity were calculated to be 374.90 mg g^-1. Moreover, PPC-0.8-800 had superior recyclability for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater, about 82% of its initial adsorption capacity was retained even after five cycles. The result of kinetic simulation showed that the adsorption of Cr(VI) on the PAN-based porous carbon could be described by pseudo-second-order kinetics. The adsorption process was the ionic interaction between protonated amine groups of PPC and HCrO₄^- ions.