Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Porous Elastomer Adsorbent and Its Properties of Highly Efficient Dyes Removal

Developing an efficient adsorbent is of great importance for wastewater treatment. Despite many examples for their synthesis exist, it still remains a challenge to fabricate a versatile adsorbent to overcome the defects of their common forms (e.g., powder, pellet, bead and flake). Herein, a novel three-dimensional porous elastic adsorbent (3D-PE) was constructed by adhering porous carbon to polyurethane foam framework using ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. 3D-PE was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas adsorption analyzer, electronic universal testing machine and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Benefitting from the rational integration of the porous carbon, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and polyurethane foam, 3D-PE exhibited high strength, excellent resilience and remarkable flexibility even under compression conditions. Inspired by these impressive characteristics, 3D-PE was potentially used as an adsorbent for wastewater purification, especially in a feasible application to be operated under harsh conditions. As a proof of concept, when the adsorbents were used towards methylene blue removal, 3D-PE exhibited high adsorption rate (96% removal efficiency within 5 min), stable recyclability even under a repeatedly compressed condition. In addition, kinetics and isotherm models were fitted. It was confirmed that the adsorption of methylene blue by 3D-PE was chemisorption and multi-molecular layer adsorption. 3D-PE may hold good promising applications in wastewater remediation, catalytic reactions, and environmental engineering.