Nanocarbon Dimensionality and Oxidation Degree Influence the Sorption of Atenolol: Implications for Water Treatment

Emerging contaminants, such as atenolol, in water environments are a reality that cannot be avoided. One of the alternatives to alleviating this situation is using materials capable of removing these compounds from water by adsorption. Many materials have proven efficient, and carbon nanomaterials can be emphasized. A gap in these studies is the comparison of different dimensions of the materials because carbon nanomaterials can be obtained in 0, 1, 2, or 3 dimensions. In this context, the present work aims to unravel the differences in the ability to absorb atenolol in carbon nanomaterials with different dimensions and degrees of oxidation: multiwalled carbon nanotubes, oxidized or not, reduced graphene oxide, and three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide with different degrees of oxidation. Experiments were performed to evaluate the kinetic and isothermal performance of the materials as well as their reuse. In addressing the abstract graphic: yes, both the dimensionality and the degree of oxidation influence the adsorption of the drug. The results showed that the sorptive capacity tends to increase with the increase in the dimensionality and with the degree of oxidation of the structures. Thus, the more oxidized three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide showed excellent interaction with atenolol, with a high sorptive capacity that can be quickly obtained. This better sorption capacity results from its oxidized structure and morphology with noncompacted cavities. Finally, the reuse study also showed excellent results for the same nanomaterial, underlining its performance in the present study. Thus, this tridimensional material is an efficient alternative for removing atenolol from aqueous environments and can be efficiently applied in water treatment.