Defective graphene nanosheets for drinking water purification: Adsorption mechanism, performance, and recovery

Defect-rich graphene oxide (dGO) was used as sorbent for organic contaminants of emerging concern in tap water, including drugs and dyes, the performance compared to those lower-defects types. The role holes carbonyl- carboxylic groups on nanosheets surface adsorption mechanism efficiency investigated. dGO showed enhanced capacity toward two fluoroquinolone antibiotics (ofloxacin, OFLOX, ciprofloxacin, CIPRO) water with a maximum 650 mg/g, 204 mg/g Hummers derived commercial GO (hGO) 125 less defected Brodie (bGO) OFLOX. defects selective OFLOX also modelled by MD simulations, highlighting mainly driven shape complementarity between molecules. Adsorption isotherms revealed different model dGO, Langmuir fitting BET all other investigated samples. about six times higher than that Granular Activated Carbon (95 mg/g), industrial standard technology. Finally, it demonstrated can be recovered from treated ultrafiltration, this preventing secondary contamination risks enabling safe use purification.