TY - JOUR A1 - Tuma, Dirk A1 - Kharismadevi, D. A1 - Haldorai, Y. A1 - Nguyen, V. H. A1 - Shim, J.-J. T1 - Synthesis of graphene oxide-poly(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) composite by dispersion polymerization in supercritical CO2: adsorption behavior for the removal of organic dye JF - Composite Interfaces N2 - The use of a biocompatible and thermoresponsive polymer, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) grafted onto the surface of graphene oxide (GO) as an adsorbent for the removal of a cationic dye (methylene blue [MB]) from an aqueous solution is examined in this work. GO–PHEMA forms a hydrogel in water thus overcoming the problem faced by carbon-based adsorbent materials during post-treatment (i.e., separation of adsorbent from the aqueous phase). The GO–PHEMA composite was synthesized using a green approach through dispersion polymerization in supercritical CO2. The successful preparation of this composite was confirmed by a series of characterization techniques. The adsorption behavior of the composite toward MB, such as the effect of the adsorbent dosage, pH, contact time, dye concentration, and recyclability was observed. In addition, the adsorption isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamics were investigated. According to the experimental data, the adsorption parameters were found to fit well into the Freundlich adsorption isotherm with a correlation coefficient of 0.975 and a maximum predicted adsorption capacity of 39.41 mg g−1 at 25 °C. The adsorption kinetics studies showed that the adsorption behavior followed a pseudo-second-order reaction. On the other hand, the thermodynamics studies showed that the adsorption of MB on GO–PHEMA composite followed spontaneous and endothermic adsorption process with an efficient adsorption temperature at 45 °C. The experimental results also showed that the GO–PHEMA composite could remove 99.8 % of the dye in 45 min. Therefore, GO–PHEMA composite is a favorable green adsorbent for environmental applications. KW - graphene oxide KW - poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) KW - adsorption KW - composite materials PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/09276440.2016.1169707 SN - 0927-6440 SN - 1568-5543 VL - 23 IS - 7 SP - 719 EP - 739 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London, UK AN - OPUS4-36293 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -