Graphene oxide as a new generation adsorbent for the removal of antibiotics from waters
Elif Çalışkan Salihi, Jiabin Wang, Gözde Kabacaoğlu, Sena Kırkulak, Lidija Šiller
Abstract
The presence of antibiotic molecules in the natural water sources is currently a huge problem due to the development of bacterial resistance. Graphene oxide (GO) has a large potential as a candidate for the applications of water treatment. In this paper, graphene oxide was tested as a new generation adsorbent for the removal of two antibiotics: trimethoprim (TMP) and isoniazid (INH). Both adsorption processes reached the equilibrium in less than 1 h. Maximum adsorption capacities were found to be 204.08 mg g-1 for TMP and 13.89 mg g-1 for INH. TMP adsorption on GO was favored in alkaline medium while the performance of GO for INH adsorption was better in acidic conditions.