Resilient, mesoporous carbon nanotube-based strips as adsorbents of dilute organics in water

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) mixed with an organic binder were extruded as strips 20–30 cm long with diameter of 3 mm. After drying, the strips exhibited a tunable surface area, dominant mesopores, and a hydrophobic surface property and were effective at removing various organics (whether with pure hydrophobic properties or with the hydrophobic and hydrophilic functional groups simultaneously, several hundred parts per million) from water. The CNT-based strips exhibited a smaller surface area and a lower adsorption capacity of organics in water compared to the pristine CNTs but could be used as a reversible adsorbent, validated by 10 cycles of continuous adsorption-desorption of o -cresol in water. In addition, the strips exhibited much higher strength under compression and much higher resilience in the attrition test using water flow with high velocity or high-temperature gases compared to the activated carbon-based adsorbent. The resilient mesopore CNT-based adsorbents with easy adsorption and easy desorption performance are very promising for practical applications.