Strengthening the surface and adsorption properties of diatomite for removal of Cr(VI) and methylene blue dye

Abstract The main purpose of this work was to boost the surface and adsorption characteristics of diatomite (D) through chemical modifications with chitosan (DC), chitosan/titanium isopropoxide (DCTi), or chitosan/ graphene oxide (DCGr), respectively. Physicochemical characteristics of the prepared samples were investigated using SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, and porosity measurements. The impact of such modifiers into the D surface on the removal efficiency of chromium (VI) ions and methylene blue dye was studied in an equilibrium mode. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to analyze the adsorption data. Modifiers considerably enhanced the surface and textural properties of D through insertion of the main surface functional groups of chitosan and graphene oxide together compared to chitosan and titanium isopropoxide together or chitosan alone. In addition, the total surface area and total pore volume parameters of the unmodified D sample were improved greatly from 16.5 m 2 /g, 0.036 cm 3 /g to 39.8 m 2 /g and 0.174 cm 3 /g for DCGr, while they were 17.7 m 2 /g and 0.132 cm 3 /g for DC. The best adsorption results were well-defined with the Langmuir isotherm equilibrium model. Accordingly, the DCGr sample exhibited the highest uptake of Cr(VI) (about 167 mg/g) and methylene blue (66.7 mg/g). Hence, the chemical modification strategy of diatomite performed by using chitosan and graphene oxide significantly boosted the surface active sites and porosity properties and thus gave rise to the high adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) and methylene blue dye from wastewater. Hence, these findings affirmed the validity of the current strategy for surface modification of diatomite with chitosan and graphene oxide.