Two-Step Pyrolysis-Derived N-Doped Porous Carbon for Highly Efficient Adsorption of Doxycycline Hydrochloride

Lanmeng Wei; Qicui Wang; Juan Yao; Caixia Fan; Xiangfu Gu; Pihui Yang; Anzhong Peng; Haifeng Li

doi:10.22146/ijc.113610

Two-Step Pyrolysis-Derived N-Doped Porous Carbon for Highly Efficient Adsorption of Doxycycline Hydrochloride

https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.113610

Lanmeng Wei⁽¹⁾, Qicui Wang⁽²⁾, Juan Yao⁽³⁾, Caixia Fan⁽⁴⁾, Xiangfu Gu⁽⁵⁾, Pihui Yang⁽⁶⁾, Anzhong Peng^(7*), Haifeng Li⁽⁸⁾

(1) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(2) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(3) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(4) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(5) The First Affiliated Hospital, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(6) The First Affiliated Hospital, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(7) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(8) College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671003, China
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped porous carbons (NPCs) have attracted considerable attention as efficient adsorbents for the removal of emerging organic contaminants from water. Herein, a novel NPC was successfully prepared via a two-step pyrolysis strategy using glucose as the carbon precursor and urea as a nitrogen source. Notably, urea plays a dual-functional role during the synthesis process, simultaneously acting as a nitrogen dopant and a pore-forming agent, thereby promoting the formation of a well-developed porous structure and abundant nitrogen-containing active sites. The obtained NPC_1-2 exhibits a high specific surface area of 2136.34 m²/g and a nitrogen content of 4.42%. As a result, NPC_1-2 demonstrates outstanding adsorption performance toward doxycycline hydrochloride (DCH), achieving an ultrahigh adsorption capacity of 854.70 mg/g at 298 K. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm analyses indicate that the adsorption process follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the high adsorption capacity originates from the synergistic effects of pore filling, hydrogen bonding, π–π electron donor–acceptor interactions, and electrostatic interactions. Furthermore, NPC_1-2 exhibits excellent regeneration performance, highlighting its promising potential for practical wastewater treatment applications.

Keywords

N-doped porous carbons; doxycycline; synergistic effect; adsorption; water treatment

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.113610