Term of Award
Summer 2021
Degree Name
Master of Science, Applied Physical Science
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Chemistry
Committee Chair
Beverly Penland
Committee Member 1
Arpita Saha
Committee Member 2
Amanda White
Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are known to be a suitable adsorbent of organic and inorganic contaminants due to their large surface area and hollow structures, but at the nanoscale, CNTs have poor solubility and can be difficult to remove from solution. Studies have shown that the use of peptides can control the size, shape, and structure of inorganic materials during synthesis and improve CNT dispersion in solution. In this research, magnetic CNTs were synthesized in a co-precipitation reaction in the presence of a bifunctional M6A-B1 peptide to correct both of these deficiencies in CNTs. Characterization of nanoparticles was facilitated by analytical methods including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and CHNS Elemental Analysis. To study the adsorption capacity of synthesized materials in the removal of environmental toxins, this research determined the effect of adsorbate concentration, pH, and adsorbent concentration on the removal of Toluidine Blue O (TBO) dye from an aqueous solution as a model for remediation of industrial dyes from factory effluent. Standard kinetics were used to analyze the rate of the solid-liquid adsorption reaction and isotherm models were used to describe the interaction between adsorbate and adsorbent. Water remediation studies were conducted to study the effects of temperature, adsorbent dosage, agitation speed, contact time, and peptide treatment on the removal of Tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) Phosphonium Chloride (THPC) from an aqueous solution as a model for remediation of flame retardants from factory effluent. A pseudo second order kinetics model was used to analyze the rate of this solid-liquid adsorption reaction as well.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Honora V., "Peptide-Assisted Synthesis of Magnetic Carbon Nanotubes for the Removal of Toxins from Aqueous Solutions" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2294.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2294
Research Data and Supplementary Material
Yes
