Efficient removal of pharmaceuticals from water using graphene nanoplatelets as adsorbent

Recently, pharmaceutical pollutants in water have emerged as a global concern they give threat to human health and the environment. In this study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were used efficiently remove antibiotics sulfamethoxazole (SMX) analgesic acetaminophen (ACM) from by an adsorption process. GNPs; C750, C300, M15 M5 characterized high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction Brunauer–Emmett–Teller. The effects of several parameters viz. solution pH, adsorbent amount, initial concentration contact time studied. optimized batch process maximum removal efficiency for both pharmaceuticals was 99%. kinetics isotherms models employed, experimental data best analysed with pseudo-second kinetic Langmuir isotherm capacity (Q m ) 210.08 mg g ?1 SMX 56.21 ACM. A regeneration study applied using different eluents; 5% ethanol-deionized 0.005 M NaOH HCl. GNP C300 able most environmental samples. Molecular docking simulate mechanism towards ACM free binding energy ?7.54 kcal mol ?5.29 , respectively, which revealed occurred spontaneously.