Scalable Sulfonate-Coated Cotton Fibers as Facile Recyclable and Biodegradable Adsorbents for Highly Efficient Removal of Cationic Dyes

Adsorbents with superior adsorption capacity and facile recyclability are viewed as promising materials for dye wastewater treatment. In this work, a novel sulfonate decorated cotton fiber as a biodegradable and recyclable adsorbent was fabricated for highly efficient removal of cationic dyes. Herein, the poly(sodium p-styrenesulfonate-co-N-methylol acrylamide) (P(SSNa-co-NMAM)) with SSNa units as adsorption sites and NMAM units as thermal-crosslinking points was synthesized for modification of cotton fibers in a large scale at high temperature (160 oC). The various characterization investigations confirmed the successful construction of the P(SSNa-co-NMAM) coated cotton fibers (PCF). As expected, the as-obtained adsorbent presented outstanding adsorption performance toward cationic dyes in the both static and dynamic states, even in the synthetic effluent. The adsorption processes of cationic dyes onto the PCF were well fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model and Pseudo-second-order kinetics, respectively. The thermodynamics study showed that the adsorption reaction of the cationic dyes onto PCF was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The maximum adsorption capacities of PCF toward MEB, RhB and MG were 3976.10, 2879.80 and 3071.55 mg/g, respectively. The responsible adsorption of dyes ontothe PCF was electrostatic interaction. Moreover, the adsorption capacity of PCF toward cationic dyes was slight influenced by pH value of solution, because of the stable feature of sulfonate moiety in acid and alkali. In addition, the as-prepared PCF exhibited satisfactory recyclability and reusability. Given the aforementioned results, the as-obtained PCF is a promising adsorbent with great potential for practical application in the dye-contaminated wastewater remediation.