Synthesis of ordered nanoarrays activated carbon using SBA-15 as hard template for adsorption of ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug primarily found as a pharmaceutical residue in water and can be removed using adsorption method. Activated carbon with nanoarrays structure was produced using SBA-15 as a hard template and further utilised as an adsorbent for ibuprofen removal. SBA-15 was synthesised using TEOS and Pluronic-F123 as a mesoporous template, followed by deposition with sucrose as a carbon precursor. Carbonisation was carried out under N2 flow at 180 °C followed by pyrolysis at 900 °C to form carbon nanoarrays. The effect of activation using KOH solution on activated carbon nanoarrays was investigated for ibuprofen removal. Characterisation using XRD, FTIR, TEM, and N2 adsorption-desorption revealed that the carbon adapted the highly ordered structure of SBA-15 with the diameter of nanoarrays of ~ 5 nm and surface area of ~646 m²/g. Investigation of the adsorption of ibuprofen on activated carbon nanoarrays showed that the adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with the adsorption capacity of ~ 24.5 mg/g. Prolonged treatment of carbon with KOH has been shown to affect the adsorption capacity of ibuprofen due to a decrease in the surface functionality of carbon.