Biomass-derived porous carbon for rapid adsorption of methylene blue in aqueous solution

Large adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption efficiency properties of adsorbents are desirable in wastewater treatment. This study reports porous carbon derived from natural Carex meyeriana Kunth to rapidly adsorb methylene blue (MB). Carex meyeriana Kunth derived porous carbon with abundant π-π stacking and O-H bond was successfully synthesized. The high content π-π stacking and O-H bond on the adsorbent surface leads to the rapid adsorption of MB by adsorption capacity test. The optimized adsorbent presented an adsorption capacity of 150.3 mg·g −1 of MB within 10 mins at pH 7, and its adsorption capacity was competitive with commercial activated carbon (163.7 mg·g −1 ). The Langmuir adsorption isotherm models are utiliized to describe adsorption equilibrium. The adsorption kinetics of MB on the optimized adsorbent can be well analyzed with pseudo second-order kinetics. This study presents a new perspective for controllable surface modification of porous carbon adsorbents for efficient and rapid removal of dyes. • The biomass-derived porous carbon derived from Carex meyeriana Kunth was obtained. • ABMPCs presents a rapid adsorption capacity of 901.8 mg·g −1 ·h −1 of methylene blue. • The content of π-π stacking and O-H bond on the ABMPCs surface can be controlled. • The π-π stacking and O-H bond dominantly promote the adsorption capacity.