Equilibrium, Kinetic, and Thermodynamic Studies on Adsorption of Rhodamine B from Aqueous Solutions Using Oxidized Mesoporous Carbons

Oxidized mesoporous carbon C(SBA-15), obtained by the hard method, was applied to remove rhodamine B from the aqueous system. The process of carbon oxidation was performed using 0.5 and 5 M of nitric (V) acid solution at 70 and 100 °C. Functionalization of mesoporous carbon with HNO(3) solutions led to reduction in the surface area, pore volume, and micropore area, however, it also led to an increased number of oxygen functional groups of acidic character. The functional groups probably are located at the entrance of micropores, in this way, reducing the values of textural parameters. Isotherms of rhodamine B adsorption indicate that the oxidation of mesoporous carbons resulted in an increase in the effectiveness of the removal of this dye from aqueous solutions. The influence of temperature, pH, and contact time of mesoporous material/rhodamine B on the effectiveness of dye removal was tested. The process of dye adsorption on the surfaces of the materials studied was established to be most effective at pH 12 and at 60 °C. Kinetic studies of the process of adsorption proved that the equilibrium state between the dye molecules and mesoporous carbon materials is reached after about 1 h. The adsorption kinetics were well fitted using a pseudo-second-order model. The most effective in rhodamine B removal was the sample C(SBA-15)-5-100, containing the greatest number of oxygen functional groups of acidic character. The Langmuir model best represented equilibrium data.