Synthesis of tin oxide nanospheres under ambient conditions and their strong adsorption of As(III) from water

Ge Zhang, Wuzhu Sun, Lingmei Liu, Weiyi Yang, Zhengchao Xu, Qi Li, Jian Ku Shang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The development of highly efficient As(iii) adsorbents is critical to largely simplify the arsenic treatment process and lower its cost. For the first time, SnO2 nanospheres were demonstrated to possess a highly efficient As(iii) adsorption capability from water in a near neutral pH environment as predicted by the material criterion we recently developed for the selection of highly efficient arsenic adsorbents. These SnO2 nanospheres were synthesized by a simple and cost-effective hydrolysis process with the assistance of ethyl acetate under ambient conditions, which had a good dispersity, a narrow size distribution, a relatively large specific surface area, and a porous structure. A fast As(iii) adsorption was observed in the kinetics study on these SnO2 nanospheres, and their Langmuir adsorption capacity was determined to be ∼112.7 mg g-1 at pH ∼7. The As(iii) adsorption mechanism on SnO2 nanospheres was examined by both macroscopic and microscopic techniques, which demonstrated that it followed the inner-sphere complex model. These SnO2 nanospheres demonstrated effective As(iii) adsorption even with exceptionally high concentrations of co-existing ions, and a good regeneration capability by washing with NaOH solution.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)18207-18214
Number of pages8
JournalDalton Transactions
Volume44
Issue number41
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Inorganic Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Synthesis of tin oxide nanospheres under ambient conditions and their strong adsorption of As(III) from water'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this