Haijin Liu, Min Chen, Dandan Wei
Apr 14, 2020
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0
Influential Citations
18
Citations
Journal
ACS applied materials & interfaces
Abstract
The adsorbents for water treatment and purification are commonly not recyclable due to the lack of a reagentless "switch" to readily release the adsorbed compounds. Herein, the interface of Bi2O2CO3 (BOC) nanosheets is designed, synthesized, and modified with citric acid, namely modified Bi2O2CO3 (m-BOC). The m-BOC is able to selectively adsorb methylene blue (MB) in dark and the adsorbed MB could be released in the light from the m-BOC without the addition of any chemicals. The adsorption mechanism is attributed to the electrostatic attraction between positively charged MB and negatively charged surface of m-BOC. In contrast, the desorption of MB has resulted from the photo-induced charge redistribution at the surface of m-BOC surface, which unlocks the co-ordination bond between m-BOC and the carboxylic group. As a result, the BOC is recycled. Such a mechanism was verified by both experimental investigation and DFT calculation. This work provides a promising interfacial engineering strategy for the remediation of dye-polluted water and smart separation in chemical engineering.