Carbonized titanium dioxide with good adsorption properties for cationic dyes via simple heat treatment

With the development of modern industry, the discharge of dye wastewater is increasing year by year, and the damage caused by this wastewater to the ecosystem is often irreversible. Therefore, the research on the harmless treatment of dyes has attracted much attention in recent years. In this paper, commercial titanium dioxide (anatase nanometer titanium dioxide) was heat treated with anhydrous ethanol to synthesize titanium carbide (C/TiO2). Its maximum adsorption capacity for cationic dyes methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B is 27.3 and 124.6 mg g-1, respectively, which is much higher than that of pure TiO2. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm model of C/TiO2 were studied and characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and other methods. The results show that the carbon layer on the surface of C/TiO2 promotes the increase in surface hydroxyl groups, which is the main reason for the increase in MB adsorption. Compared with other adsorbents, C/TiO2 showed excellent reusability. The experimental results of adsorbent regeneration showed that the adsorption rate R% of MB was almost unchanged after three cycles. During the recovery of C/TiO2, the dyes adsorbed on its surface are removed, which solves the problem that the adsorbent cannot degrade dyes simply by adsorption. Additionally, C/TiO2 has a stable adsorption effect, is insensitive to the pH value, has a simple preparation process, and has relatively low raw material prices, making it suitable for large-scale operation. Therefore, it has good commercial prospects in the organic dye industry wastewater treatment.