High adsorption performances of graphene aerogel for various liquid organics

Graphene aerogel (GA) and N doped GA (N-GA) are prepared by the hydrothermal method with various times, and their adsorption abilities are estimated by using gasoline, ethyl acetate, and phenol. The adopted hydrothermal reaction time inflicts a fundamental influence on the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) area and porosities of the resulting samples. Moreover, the residual amount of surface functional groups of GA and the doping ratio of the N element are also controlled by the reaction time, which enhances the interaction between the N-GA and various adsorbates as well as the adsorption capacities by the heighten polarity. The presence of the N element further enhances the obtained adsorption performances because of the increased active sites, although the BET area and porosity of the N-GA slightly decrease. The optimized sample displays high adsorption properties and potential application prospects, and the adsorption amounts of gasoline, ethyl acetate, and phenol by using N-GA-5 reach 8.4, 11.3, and 12.2 g g−1, respectively.