Accepted Manuscript

Title: Synthesis and functionalization of graphene oxide (GO)

for salty water desalination as adsorbent

Authors: Marzieh Zahed, Parisa sadat Parsamehr, Maryam

Ahmadzadeh Tofighy, Toraj Mohammadi

PII: S0263-8762(18)30416-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2018.08.022
Reference: CHERD 3316

To appear in:

Received date: 24-5-2018

Revised date: 24-7-2018
Accepted date: 11-8-2018

Please cite this article as: Zahed, Marzieh, Parsamehr, Parisa sadat, Tofighy, Maryam
Ahmadzadeh, Mohammadi, Toraj, Synthesis and functionalization of graphene oxide
(GO) for salty water desalination as adsorbent.Chemical Engineering Research and
Design https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2018.08.022

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Synthesis and functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) for salty water

desalination as adsorbent

Marzieh Zahed, Parisa sadat Parsamehr, Maryam Ahmadzadeh Tofighy, Toraj Mohammadi*

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Research and Technology Centre for Membrane Processes, Faculty of Chemical Engineering,

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Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran

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Tel.: +98 21 77240496; Fax: +98 21 77240495

E-mail:torajmohammadi@iust.ac.ir

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*
Corresponding author
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Highlights:
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 GO was synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers methods.

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 The as-synthesized GO was functionalized with chitosan.

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 The as-synthesized and the functionalized GO were used as adsorbents.

 Salty water desalination using the prepared adsorbents was performed.

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 GO functionalization with chitosan improves sodium ion adsorption capacity.

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Abstract

In this article, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers

methods and functionalized with chitosan and used as adsorbents for salty water desalination

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application. The results demonstrated that GO prepared via the modified Hummers method has

higher adsorption capacity of sodium ions than GO prepared via the Hummers method. Also,

functionalization with chitosan improved sodium ions adsorption capacity of the GO prepared via

the modified Hummers method from 770.2 to 830.3 mg/g at an initial sodium ion concentration of

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40,000 mg/l. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and two kinetic models were applied to fit the

experimental data. Regeneration performance of the prepared adsorbents was also studied. The

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results demonstrated that both isotherms and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model match the

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obtained experimental data very well. It was found out that the chitosan functionalized GO with

higher adsorption capacity and better regeneration performance can be considered as an effective

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adsorbent for salty water desalination.

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Keywords: Adsorption; Desalination; Carbon Nanomaterials; Graphene oxide (GO);
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Functionalization.
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1. Introduction
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Desalination is a process that extracts dissolved mineral components from salty water such as sea
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water, brackish water and treated water. The seas, the oceans, and the ices in the poles cover about
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71% of the earth's surface and contain 99 % of the earth's water. Less than 1 % of the earth's water

is fresh and suitable for drinking. The water of the seas and the oceans is salty and not directly
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useable. Therefore, in order to overcome the water shortage, special processes are needed to

desalinate the salty water [1–6].

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There are many conventional desalination methods including precipitation, oxidation, reduction,

ion exchange, membrane filtration, and adsorption. Considering from ease of process, efficiency

and economy point of view, adsorption is regarded as one of the most promising and widely used

methods [3,7,8]. Adsorption efficiency directly depends on characteristics of the used adsorbent
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like specific surface area and surface functional groups (active adsorption sites). In recent years,

tremendous effort has been undertaken to develop new adsorbents for wastewater treatment.

Carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene and its derivatives such as

graphene oxide (GO) have attracted considerable attention as good candidates for adsorbent

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materials due to their unique physical and chemical properties [9-11].

Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon based nanomaterial that is composed of a planar monolayer

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of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern. Pristine graphene, GO,

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and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) are various forms of graphene used in different applications.

Graphene requires special oxidation processes to introduce hydrophilic functional groups to

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improve its ion adsorption capacity. GO is the oxidized form of graphene that can be produced by

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graphite oxidizing. After graphite oxidation, oxygen molecules intersperse the graphite carbon
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layers. By increasing the interplanar spacing between the layers by exfoliation, graphite oxide
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changes into GO. The preparation of GO from graphite using the Hummers and the modified

Hummers methods introduce many oxygen containing functional groups on the GO surface
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(hydroxyl and epoxy groups on the basal plane and carboxylic acid groups at the edges of GO).
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These oxygen containing functional groups on GO make a significant contribution to its

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hydrophilicity and high negative charge density that are essential for desalination application.

Compared to other adsorbents including activated carbon (AC), fly ash, sewage sludge ash,
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zeolites, biomaterials, recycled alum sludge, manganese oxides, peanut hulls, kaolinite, resins, rice

husk, clay, sawdust and CNTs, GO with its unique physical and chemical properties such as large
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theoretical specific surface area (about 2620 m2/g), surface π-π interaction, high negative charge

density and hydrophilicity is regarded as the most promising absorbent to adsorb various heavy

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metal ions [12-19,42]. Therefore, GO should exhibit high adsorption capacity in salty water

desalination (sodium ions removal from sea water).

As reported in literature, functionalization of GO can increase its adsorption capacity, improve its

adsorption selectivity and facilitate separation of the spent GO from water [42]. For example,

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introduction of ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) groups to GO via silanization could

dramatically increase its active adsorption sites i.e. EDTA-GO has more sites than GO [43].

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Additionally, poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM) was used for GO functionalization via grafting, and

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the functionalized GO demonstrated excellent adsorption capacity toward heavy metal ions such

as Cu(II), Zn(II), Fe(III), Pb(II) and Cr(III) [44]. For this aim, chitosan (CS), a partially

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deacetylated derivative of chitin, with exceptional properties, such as high hydrophilicity, wide

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availability and biocompatibility, good film forming ability, moderate chemical resistance, and its
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abundant hydroxyl and amino functional groups as reactive sites can be used for GO
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functionalization. Covalently bonded chitosan on GO combine the innate characteristics of

chitosan and the unique features of GO [20-22]. No previous published study on sodium ions
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removal from water using chitosan functionalized GO as adsorbent could be found in the literature.
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In this research, application of GO synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers
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methods and the chitosan functionalized GO as adsorbents for salty water desalination was

investigated.
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2. Materials and Methods

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2.1. Materials

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Graphite powder (<50 µm), acetone, malic acid, NaNO3 ,H2 SO4 (98%), KMnO4 , HCl (37%), H2 O2

(30%) and NaCl (purity≥99.99%) were purchased from Merck and chitosan (degree of

deacetylation75-85%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.

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2.2. Methods

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2.2.1. GO Preparation

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GO was synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers methods. According to the

Hummers method, graphite (2 g) and NaNO3 (2 g) were mixed in 50 ml H2 SO4 (98%), and the

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mixture was stirred for 2 h in an ice bath at a temperature of about (0-5 °C). Then KMnO4 (6 g)
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was added to the mixture slowly to keep the temperature under 15 °C during KMnO4 addition.
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The ice bath was then removed and the mixture was stirred at 35 °C for 2 days. Next 100 ml water
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was dropped gently, and the temperature increased to 98 °C, rapidly. Also the mixture color was
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changed to brown. It was then diluted with additional 200 ml of water. The reaction was completed
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by addition of 10 ml H2 O2 to react with additional KMnO4 . Then, the mixture was washed with

HCl (10%) and deionized (DI) water by rinsing and centrifugation. The product was dried under
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vacuum at room temperature and GO powder was obtained.

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In the modified Hummers method, graphite (2 g) and NaNO3 (2 g) were mixed in 90 ml H2 SO4

(98%) in an ice bath. Then after adding KMnO4 (12 g) slowly, 184 ml water was added to the
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mixture slowly. After 2 h, the ice bath was removed and the mixture was stirred at 35°C for 2 h.

Then the mixture temperature was increased to 98 °C, and when it was cooled to room temperature,

it was stirred for 2 h. Finally, it was treated with 40 ml H2 O2 and 200 ml water. Finally, the mixture

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was washed with HCl (10%) and DI water by rinsing and centrifugation and the product was dried

under vacuum at room temperature [13]. Figure 1 shows the different steps of the GO preparation

procedure by the Hummers and the modified Hummers methods.

The morphology and structure of the GO prepared by the Hummers and the modified Hummers

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methods were characterized by SEM (Tescan, A VEGA), XRD (Bourevestnik, Dron-8) and FTIR

(Shmadzu, IR solution 8400S) analysis.

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Figure 1. Schematic of GO synthesis by (a) the Hummers and (b) the modified Hummers methods.
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2.2.2. Functionalization of GO by Chitosan

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125 mg Chitosan, 37.5 mg KMnO4 , 50 mg malic acid and 0.75 ml H2 SO4 were added to 10

ml solution containing DI water and 100 mg GO that was synthesized by the modified Hummers
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method. The mixture was stirred for 3 h at 60 °C and then washed with acetone and dried for 24

hat room temperature [20].

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2.2.3. Adsorption procedure

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Batch adsorption experiments were carried out using solutions with sodium ion concentrations of

5000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 mg/l prepared from NaCl in DI water. In all the

experiments, 100 mg of the prepared adsorbents were dispersed in 25 ml of the solutions (with

natural pH~6) at 25 ˚C. Each experiment was performed twice and the average results were

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reported with max error percent of about 5 %. Atomic adsorption spectroscopy was used to

measure the sodium ion concentration of the solutions. After removing the adsorbents from the

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solutions, at equilibrium, the amounts of adsorbed ions were obtained using the following

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equation:

(C0  Ce )V
qe  (1)

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w

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Where q e is the equilibrium adsorption uptake (mg/g), C 0 is the initial sodium concentration
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(mg/l), C e is the equilibrium sodium concentration (mg/l), V is the solution volume (l) and w is
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the adsorbent mass (g).

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2.2.4. Regeneration studies

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For regeneration study, after adsorption equilibrium at initial sodium ions concentration of 10,000

mg/l, the adsorbents were retrieved and dried at 60 ˚C for 2 h, and then dispersed in DI water.
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After the solutions attained equilibrium, the sodium ion concentrations were measured and
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desorption percentage was calculated as follows:

𝑞 (𝑑𝑒)
𝐷𝐸(%) = 𝑞𝑒(𝑎𝑑) × 100 (2)
𝑒

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where 𝑞e (𝑎𝑑) and 𝑞𝑒 (𝑑𝑒) are the amounts of adsorption and desorption at equilibrium,

respectively.

2.2.5. Batch kinetics studies

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Kinetics studies were carried out with the similar procedure as the adsorption experiments with

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initial sodium ions concentration of 10,000 mg/l. The aqueous samples were taken at preset time

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intervals and the sodium ions concentration was similarly measured. The adsorption amount at

time (t), qt (mg/g), was calculated using the following equation:

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(𝐶0 −𝐶𝑡 )𝑉
𝑞𝑡 = 𝑤 N (3)
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where C0 is the initial sodium ions concentration (mg/l), Ct (mg/l) is the sodium ions concentration
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at time (t), w is the mass of dry adsorbent used (g) and V is the volume of sodium ions solution (l).
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3. Results and discussion

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SEM images are usually used to study structure, and surface morphology of nanomaterials. Figure

2 shows SEM images of the synthesized GO via the Hummers and the modified Hummers
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methods. As can be observed, the platelet-like form of GO is seen in the both images.
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Figure 2. SEM images of (a) the Hummers and (b) the modified Hummers synthesized GO.

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XRD is a technique to determine distance between layers of crystalline materials. After oxidation,
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the layers distances of the starting graphite and the product (GO) are highly different and the XRD

spectrum is a conclusive proof of the degree of oxidation. XRD patterns of the synthesized GO via
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the Hummers and the modified Hummers methods as shown in Figure 3 display 2Ѳ peaks at 11.3°
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and 11.7°, so the corresponding interlayer spacing of the synthesized GO is 7.8 and 7.6 Ȧ,

respectively. The interlayer spacing of the starting graphite is about 3.4 Ȧ (inset in Figure 3 a) that
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indicates the prepared GO via two methods are completely oxidized and the exfoliation process
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increases the interlayer spacing [13,18].

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Figure 3. XRD spectrums of (a) the Hummers and (b) the modified Hummers synthesized GO.

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FTIR is a method to examine the obtained oxygen containing functional groups after oxidation of

graphite flakes. FTIR spectrums of the prepared GO by the Hummers and the modified Hummers

methods, as seen in Figure 4, show that the synthesized GO via both methods are functionalized

successfully with different types of oxygen functional groups. The spectrums confirm presence of

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the C-O bond in the aloxy group (1060𝑐𝑚−1), the C-O bond in epoxy group (1226𝑐𝑚−1), the

unoxidized CC bonds (1620 𝑐𝑚−1), the carbonyl, and the starching vibration of carboxylic acid

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(COOH) groups (1733𝑐𝑚−1), and the hydroxyl groups (3359 𝑐𝑚−1). It is clear that both of the

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spectrums are similar, except one peak at 1431𝑐𝑚−1 in the modified Hummers method that

indicates the C-OH bonding [23, 24].

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Figure 4. FTIR spectrums of (a) the Hummers and (b) the modified Hummers synthesized GO.

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For better comparison, FTIR spectra of the neat chitosan, the prepared GO by the modified

Hummers method and the chitosan functionalized GO (before and after adsorption process) are

shown in Figure 5. As can be observed, the peaks of the chitosan functionalized GO FTIR spectrum

(curve c) are similar to those of the chitosan and the GO spectra (curves a and b). The peaks at

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1733 cm−1 and 1620 cm−1of curve b are assigned to the COOH groups and the CC bands of GO,

respectively. In curve c, both of the two peaks are downshifted compared to GO in curve b, due to

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the hydrogen bonding between GO and chitosan. The results imply the existence of the interaction

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between GO and chitosan. As can be observed in curve d, new peaks appear after the adsorption

process as the result of interactions between sodium ions and the functional groups of the chitosan

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functionalized GO [20,50].

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 Figure 5. FTIR spectra of (a) the neat chitosan, (b) the modified Hummers synthesized GO, (c and d) the

chitosan functionalized GO before and after adsorption process, respectively.

Table 3 shows specific surface area of the prepared GO by the Hummers and the modified

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Hummers methods and also the chitosan functionalized GO. As can be observed, the GO specific

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surface area decreases after functionalizaion with chitosan.

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Table 1. Specific surface area of the prepared adsorbents.

Specific surface area (S, m2/g)

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Adsorbents

Hummers GO 1330

Modified Hummers GO
N 1228
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Chitosan functionalized GO 1085
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The adsorption behavior of sodium ions onto the as-synthesized and the functionalized GO was
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investigated. The equilibrium adsorption uptake of the as-synthesized and the functionalized GO
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at different initial sodium ions concentrations is shown in Figure 6. As can be observed, adsorption

uptake of the prepared adsorbents increases significantly with increasing initial sodium ions
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concentration. With increasing initial ions concentration from 5,000 to 40,000 ppm, the adsorption

capacity at equilibrium increases from 275.5 to 656.3 mg/g, 292.7 to 770.2 and from 344.7 to 830.3
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mg/g for the GO synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers methods and the

chitosan functionalized GO, respectively. It can be explained that the impetus of initial high

concentration is larger than that of initial low concentration, and as a result, adsorption onto the

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as-synthesized and the functionalized GO is a diffusion-based process. In higher ions

concentration, the driving force of concentration gradient becomes larger, and this hence results in

more ions adsorption [21, 25].

As can be observed in Figure 5, the chitosan functionalized GO exhibits greater sodium ions

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adsorption capacity than the as-synthesized GO. Adsorption capability of sodium ions for the

prepared adsorbents can be ordered as GO prepared via the Hummers method < GO prepared via

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the modified Hummers method < chitosan functionalized GO. This can be due to the fact that the

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sodium ions adsorption capacity of GO does not directly relate to its specific surface area but

strongly depends upon its surface total acidity including oxygen containing functional groups

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[7,21,25,41]. Chemical interaction between sodium ions and surface functional groups of GO is

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mainly responsible for the adsorption. Increasing the number of surface functional groups of GO
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improves the adsorption capacity of sodium ions [3,7,21, 25-28, 41].
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Figure 6. Effect of initial sodium ions concentration on equilibrium adsorption uptake.

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The obtained data for sodium ions adsorption onto the as-synthesized and the functionalized GO

were analyzed using the Freundlich and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm models [3,21,25].

The Freundlich isotherm assumes that the adsorption occurs on a heterogeneous surface by

multilayer adsorption and the amount of adsorbate adsorbed increases infinitely with increasing

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concentration [3]. It can be expressed by the following general form equation:

𝑞𝑒 = 𝐾𝐹 𝐶𝑒𝑛 (4)

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Or by the following linear form equation:

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log 𝑞𝑒 = 𝑛 log 𝐶𝑒 + log 𝐾𝐹 (5)

Where Ce is the equilibrium concentration of sodium ions (mg/l), qe is the adsorption uptake of

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sodium ions (mg/g) and n and 𝐾𝐹 are the Freundlich parameters related to the adsorption intensity

and the adsorption capacity, respectively. N

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The Langmuir isotherm model assumes monolayer sorption onto a solid surface with uniform
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adsorption energies and a finite number of identical sites [3]. It can be expressed by the following

general form equation:

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𝑞𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝐾𝐿 𝐶𝑒
𝑞𝑒 =
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(6)
1+𝐾𝐿 𝐶𝑒

Or by the following linear form equation:

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𝐶𝑒 1 𝐶𝑒
=𝐾 +𝑞 (7)
𝑞𝑒 𝐿 𝑞𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑛
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Where Ce is the equilibrium concentration of sodium ions (mg/l), qmon is the amount of adsorption

corresponding to the monolayer coverage. KL is the Langmuir constant which is related to the
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adsorption energy.

An essential characteristic of Langmuir isotherm can be expressed by a dimensionless constant

called equilibrium parameter:

1
𝑅𝐿 = 1+𝐾 (8)
𝐿 𝐶0

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where 𝐶0 is the highest initial sodium ions concentration (mg/l) and 𝐾𝐿 is the Langmuir constant.

The value of 𝑅𝐿 indicates the isotherm type to be either favorable (0 <𝑅𝐿 < 1), unfavorable (𝑅𝐿 >

1), linear (𝑅𝐿 = 1), or irreversible (𝑅𝐿 = 0).

The slope and the intercept of each linear plot in Figures 7 (a) and (b) were used to calculate the

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Freundlich and the Langmuir parameters. The calculated Freundlich and Langmuir parameters and

the correlation coefficient (R2) values are listed in Table 2. As can be observed, the dimensionless

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constant values, (𝑅𝐿 ), lie within the favorable limit between 0 and 1. The 𝑞𝑚 values calculated

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using the Langmuir isotherm are 625.0, 769.2and 833.3 mg/g for the prepared GO by the Hummers

and the modified Hummers methods and the chitosan functionalized GO, respectively which is

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consistent with the experimental results. The values of 𝐾𝐹 calculated using the Freundlich model
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are large, indicating that the prepared adsorbents have high affinity toward sodium ions. The
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constant value of 𝐾𝐹 is higher for adsorption of sodium ions onto the chitosan functionalized GO
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which is consistent with the experimental observations (Figure 6). Deviation of the n values from
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unity indicates a non-linear adsorption that takes place on heterogeneous surfaces. The n values
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are smaller than 1, which indicates favorable adsorption of sodium ions onto the prepared

adsorbents. These results and also the correlation coefficient (R2) values demonstrate that both
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Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms agree well with the obtained experimental data [3,21,25, 27-

37,41].
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Figure 7. (a) TheFreundlich and (b) the Langmuir isotherms.

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 Table 2. The Freundlich and the Langmuir parameters.

Model Langmuir isotherm Freundlich isotherm

qmon (mg/g) KL (l/mg) 𝑅𝐿 R2 n KF (mg/g) R2

GO (Hummers) 625.000 1.294×10-4 0.162 0.976 0.369 13.152 0.992

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GO (modified Hummers) 769.230 1.176×10-4 0.175 0.972 0.362 16.106 0.992

Chitosan functionalized GO 833.333 1.442×10-4 0.148 0.975 0.354 19.588 0.993

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In order to analyze the adsorption mechanism of sodium ions onto the prepared adsorbents, two

kinetic models including the pseudo-first-order and the pseudo-second-order were applied to fit

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the experimental data under initial sodium ion concentration of 10,000 mg/l. The rate constant of
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adsorption can be determined using the pseudo-first-order equation given by Langergren and
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Svenska [38] as:
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𝑘
1
ln(𝑞𝑒 − 𝑞𝑡 ) = 𝑙𝑛𝑞𝑒 − 2.303 𝑡 (6)
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where 𝑞𝑒 and 𝑞𝑡 are the adsorption uptake (mg/g) at equilibrium and at time 𝑡(min), respectively
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and 𝑘1 (min−1) is the rate constant of first-order adsorption.

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The pseudo-second-order equation [39] based on equilibrium adsorption can be expressed as:
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𝑡 1 1
=𝑘 2 +𝑞 𝑡 (7)
𝑞𝑡 2 𝑞𝑒 𝑒
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where 𝑘2 (g/mg min) is the rate constant of the second-order adsorption. The correlation

coefficient (R2) values and the calculated kinetic parameters of the two kinetics models are listed

in Table 3. As can be observed, the correlation coefficient values of the pseudo-second-order

kinetics model are higher than those of the pseudo-first-order kinetics model. Also, the

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 experimental 𝑞𝑒 values are closer to 𝑞𝑒 values calculated from the pseudo-second-order kinetics

model. Accordance of the experimental data with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model indicates

that adsorption of sodium ions onto the prepared adsorbents is controlled by chemical adsorption.

In chemical adsorption, it is assumed that the adsorption capacity is proportional to the number of

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active adsorption sites (oxygen containing functional groups) on the adsorbent surface

[21,25,40,41].

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Table 3. Pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models parameters at initial ion

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concentration of 10,000 mg/l.

Adsorbents
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Pseudo-first-order kinetic model Pseudo-second-order kinetic model
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𝑞𝑒,𝑒𝑥𝑝 𝑞𝑒,𝑐𝑎𝑙 (mg/g) 𝑘1 (ℎ) 𝑅2 𝑞𝑒,𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑘2 ×10−3 𝑅2
(mg/g) (mg/g) (g/g h)
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GO (Hummers) 382.543 489.454 0.426 0.819 438.908 22.595 0.985

GO (modified Hummers) 418.824

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563.768 0.445 0.934 480.987 20.014 0.986

Chitosan functionalized GO 479.441 591.076 0.469 0.852 530.349 17.776 0.973

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In order to realize the practical use of the prepared adsorbents in seawater desalination

applications, reversibility, which reflects to some extent the cost of adsorption, must be considered
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[41]. Figure 8 shows desorption percentage of the prepared adsorbents. As can be observed, the

chitosan functionalized GO shows higher desorption percentage than the others and can be
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employed repeatedly for salty water desalination. Also, it should be mentioned that the chitosan

functionalized GO can be removed from the salty solutions after adsorption process much easier

than the others.

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Fig. 8. Sodium desorption percentage of the prepared adsorbents at natural pH of about 6, at 25 °C.

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Table 4 presents a comparison of the maximum monolayer ion adsorption capacities of the
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chitosan functionalized GO and the other GO-based adsorbents documented in literature. As can

be observed, the chitosan functionalized GO has larger adsorption capacity compared with the
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others based on the data obtained from the literature.

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Table 4. Comparison of the maximum monolayer ion adsorption capacities of the chitosan

functionalized GO and the other adsorbents documented in literature.

Adsorbents Adsorbed Maximum Conditions Refs

ions monolayer
adsorption
capacity, q (mg/g)

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Chitosan functionalized GO (this work) Na(I) 830.3 pH 6, T 298 K [this work]

EDTA-GO Pb(II) 508.5 pH 6, T 318 K [45]

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Hg(II) 268.4

Cu(II) 301.2

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EDTA-GO Pb(II) 479.0 pH 6, T 298 K [43]

GO-NH2 Co(II) 116.3 pH 6, T 298 K [46]

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CGGO Pb(II) 120 pH 6, T 298 K [47]

TET-MRGO Cu(II) 209.1 N pH 6, T 293 K [48]

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GO-ACF U(VI) 298 pH 5.5, T 298 K [49]
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4. Conclusion
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In this research, application of GO synthesized by the Hummers and the modified Hummers
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methods and also chitosan functionalized GO as adsorbents for salty water desalination was

investigated. It was found out that the adsorption capacity of GO increases with increasing initial
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sodium ions concentration. Adsorption capability of sodium ions for the used adsorbents can be
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ordered as GO prepared via the Hummers method<GO prepared via the modified Hummers

method<chitosan functionalized GO. The results demonstrated that functionalization of GO with

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chitosan can improve sodium ions adsorption capacity. Therefore, the chitosan functionalized GO

with high adsorption capacity and good regeneration performance is an effective adsorbent for

salty water desalination. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and two kinetic models were used to

describe adsorption behavior of sodium ions by the prepared adsorbents. The results demonstrated

21
that both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and pseudo-second-order kinetic model match the

experimental data very well.

Acknowledgment

PT
The authors would like to thank Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) for supporting the

research (Grant No. 95013065 and 96008182).

RI
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