Synthesis and Characterization of Halloysite/Carbon Nanocomposites for Enhanced NSAIDs Adsorption from Water

The adsorption of ketoprofen, naproxen, and diclofenac (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs) on halloysite/carbon nanocomposites and non-modified halloysite were investigated in this work. Halloysite/carbon nanocomposites were obtained through liquid phase impregnation and carbonization using halloysite as the template and saccharose as the carbon precursor. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption method were employed to study the morphological and structural changes of the halloysite/carbon nanocomposites. The effects of contact time, initial concentration of adsorbates, pH of solution, and mass of adsorbent on the adsorption were studied. Adsorption mechanism was found to fit pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion models. The obtained experimental adsorption data were well represented by the Langmuir multi-center adsorption model. Adsorption ability of halloysite/carbon nanocomposites was much higher for all the studied NSAIDs in comparison to non-modified halloysite. Optimized chemical structures of ketoprofen, naproxen, and diclofenac obtained by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation showed that charge distributions of these adsorbate molecules and their ions can be helpful to explain the details of adsorption mechanism of NSAIDs on halloysite/carbon nanocomposites.