Advanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Therapy ›› 2022, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (4): 188-194.doi: 10.37015/AUDT.2022.210030

• Original Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Graphene Oxide/Polylactic Acid Microbubbles for Efficient Removal of Lead Ions from Aqueous Solution

Meng Han, MDa, Ruirui Kang, MDb, Juanjuan Chen, MDc,*()   

  1. a Queen Mary School, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
    b The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
    c Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
  • Received:2021-09-24 Revised:2021-12-15 Accepted:2022-04-22 Online:2022-12-30 Published:2022-10-25
  • Contact: Juanjuan Chen, MD, E-mail:ndefy11330@ncu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Objective: Heavy metal pollution has become one of the environmental contamination problems in today's world. Adsorption materials can effectively remove heavy metal ions from the water. There are some shortcomings for traditional adsorbents, such as difficult separation after adsorption, long separation time, and may cause secondary pollution in the environment without recycling. The aim of this study was to seek new materials with effective ways to absorb heavy metal ions in the water.

Methods: A new kind of adsorption material consisted of polylactic acid (PLA) microbubble and graphene oxide (GO) (i.e., PLA@GO microbubbles) was fabricated which can combine by electrostatic adsorption with the assistance of PAH. The influence of the initial concentration of heavy metal of lead ion, pH value, and absorption time on the adsorption effect of PLA@GO microbubbles was tested in this study.

Results: Graphene oxide modified on PLA microbubble has huge specific surface area and various functional groups, which can adsorb heavy metal ions in water. The resulting PLA@GO microbubble showed a homogeneous spherical structure with a size of 500-1.5 μm, which was suitable for its effective separation from water. The optimal dosage of PLA@GO microbubbles was 10 mg, the pH value of the solution was 5.0, and the adsorption time was 20 minutes which correlates to 75 mg/L of leadions.

Conclusion: The characteristics of the PLA@GO microbubbles showed a strong adsorption capacity, high adsorption efficiency, and a shorter balance time which provided an environment-friendly new material to remove heavy metal ions from water.

Key words: Graphene; Polylactic acid; Microbubble; Heavy metals; Lead