Water-Based Route for Dopamine and Reduced Graphene Oxide Aerogel Production

Water pollution caused by domestic waste oil and accidents with oil/organic spill needs immediate remediation, as such a pollution causes serious threats to health and the environment. Development of absorbent materials for the treatment of oil-polluted waters in a green and energy-efficient manner is highly desired. In this study, a green and simple strategy is proposed to prepare aerogels by hydrothermal reaction of graphene oxide (GO) dispersions using dopamine (DOPA) as the cross-linker. Concentrations of GO and DOPA were changed to determine their effects on absorption capacities. Aerogels produced had low densities ranging from 2.90 to 4.34 mg/cm³. Various organics, diesel oil, and sunflower oil were used to evaluate the absorption capacity of aerogels. It was observed that even with a mild thermal reduction at 150 °C, aerogels exhibited very high absorption capacities of up to 445 mg/mg. The produced aerogels showed high reusability (80%) and structural stability even after 10 absorption/desorption cycles. They possess great potential in oil/organic removal and water treatment based on their high absorption capacities and performances in separating organics/liquids from water.