Fast and Selective Methyl Blue Adsorption from Aqueous Solution on 3D BiOCl Microspheres

Abstract

Lihong Dong designed the experiments, performed a part of experiment, analyzed the data, completed the writing of the paper and revised the manuscript. Chunyi Zhou performed another part of experiment.Three dimensional BiOCl microspheres self-assembled by nanoplates were fabricated by one step hydrothermal route in water and glycerol mixed solvent. Negatively charged surfaces of the nanoplates make these BiOCl microspheres possess excellent selectivity for cationic dyes removal. The removal efficiency of BiOCl microspheres is almost not affected by pH, and high removal efficiency of 96 % still remains even though at a pH of 2. Another merit of the BiOCl microspheres is their high adsorption rate, and only 2 ∼ 20 min is needed to get adsorption equilibrium. The maximum adsorption capacity of MB reaches 146.4 mg g À 1 . The used BiOCl microspheres can be regenerated by a simple process, and 75 % removal efficiency is maintained after five adsorption-regeneration cycles. Overall, benefitting from their ultrafast rate, high adsorption capability, simple fabrication, good regenerability, and environment friendly nature, the BiOCl microspheres can be adopted as an effective adsorbent for wastewater treatment.