Synthesis and characterization of lamellar-structured materials and biomass-derived activated carbon: Experimental and theoretical investigation

Abstract

: In this study, a series of 15 adsorbent materials based on halloysite, polyaniline, alginate, biochar, montmorillonite and layered double hydroxides materials were synthesized and systematically investigated. The prepared adsorbents were characterized by BET, FTIR, ATG/DTA, SEM, TEM, and XRD analyses to elucidate their structural and physicochemical properties. Their adsorption performance toward methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) was evaluated under different operating conditions (pH, temperature, initial concentration, and adsorbent dosage), which were further optimized using design of experiments and artificial intelligence approaches. The results showed that composite and encapsulated materials exhibited higher MB adsorption efficiency than their powdered counterparts, while organophilic montmorillonite significantly improved MO removal. While the different LDHs materials showed the best uptake for MO removal. Molecular dynamics simulations confirmed that adsorption is spontaneous and mainly governed by weak physical interactions, including van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and π–π interactions.