Ajith M P

Title : CDAMS : An excellent adsorbent for the removal of aqueous Ni2+

Abstract:

The current study focuses on the green synthesis of aqueous-stable and highly fluorescent carbon dots (CD) via a hydrothermal treatment of Ficus benghalensis tender leaf extract. UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, HRTEM, DLS, Zeta Potential, FTIR, and other techniques were used to characterise the synthesised CD. CD with a blue-green fluorescence emission at 317 nm had an average size of 2.28 nm. Heavy metal-binding efficiency and adsorption affinity of the CD was evaluated by spectroscopy methods, which showed high selectivity and specificity nickel amongst the different tested heavy metals with a LOD 0.000014 μmol/mL. Further, we functionalized mesoporous silica (MS) with the prepared CD to generate an adsorbent (CD@MS) for purification of contaminated water. To determine the suitable adsorption isotherm, a series of batch tests were conducted. The experiment results examined the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Tempkin equilibrium isotherms, and associated parameters were calculated. The Langmuir isotherm gives a great match with experimental data, according to the findings. The kinetic experiments revealed that the adsorption obeys pseudo-second-order kinetics. Moreover, a column-based purification strategy was developed by conjugation of MS@CD. Through the column Small Bed Adsorption (SBA) studies breakthrough curves were plotted by changing MS-CQDs bed height. Finally, the ideal breakthrough curves were plotted, and characteristics needed to construct fixed-bed adsorption columns on an industrial scale such as bed capacity, length of the new bed, the time required for complete bed saturation at infinite rapid adsorption T_S and the breakthrough times T_b were analyzed for all scenario.

Audience take-away:

• Audience can learn the feasible biogenic synthesis of Carbon Dots from Ficus benghalensis.
• Evaluation of heavy metal-binding efficiency and adsorption affinity of the CD by spectroscopy methods.
• Adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics.

Biography:

M P Ajith completed his undergraduate studies in zoology at CMS College Campus, Kottayam of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala in 2015. In 2017, he received his post-graduation degree in zoology from Gandhigram Rural University, Tamil Nadu, India. His postgraduation research topic was on iron oxide nanoparticles and their environmental applications. Then he joined at University of Madras, Chennai, India for M.Phil. research. Currently, he is a PhD scholar at the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi., India under the supervision of Prof. Paulraj Rajamani. His area of interest is nanobiotechnology, organic quantum dots, water purification, pollutant sensing and decontamination.