The adsorption of resorcinol from water using multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Adsorption of resorcinol and other phenolic derivatives on pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and HNO3 treated MWCNTs has been investigated in attempt to explore the possibility to use MWCNTs as efficient adsorbents for pollutants. MWCNTs showed higher adsorption ability in a rather wide pH range of 4–8 for resorcinol, while decreased uptake capacity was found for acid-treated MWCNTs. Other phenolic derivatives such as phenol, catechol, hydroquinone and pyrogallol were employed to study the influence of the number and position of hydroxyl groups on the adsorption capacity. The amounts adsorbed by MWCNTs increased with the increasing number of hydroxyl. The substitution of phenol with a hydroxyl in meta-position leads to a much higher absorption ability than substitution in ortho- or para-position, which suggested that MWCNTs possess a great potential in removal of resorcinol from water, as well as the other phenolic derivatives.