摘要：

Surfacewater is widely adulterated by hazardous pollutants suchas dyes, pharmaceutical wastes, surfactants, heavy metals, hormones,etc. Hence, there is a necessity to develop a water treatment technologythat can overcome all the major water-related problems. The conventionalmethods for water disinfection are very specific and expensive. Thechallenge is to devise a purification protocol without forming harmfulbyproducts, which opens up the opportunity for new technologies withefficient materials toward water treatment. The present work demonstratesa sustainable strategy for robust water purification through a powderbased membrane fabricated from a highly oxygenated and Al-functionalizedsolvothermal carbon (Al-STC) composite. AlOOH/Al­(OH)₃ functionalizedAl-STCs with improved surface acidity were prepared by a low temperaturesolvothermal process from a eutectic system (ES) comprising ethyleneglycol (EG), choline chloride (ChoCl), glucose (Glu), and aluminumsalt. The ES acts as both carbon precursor and catalyst. Attributedto the unique properties such as high surface functionality, moderatelyhigh surface area, and caterpillar-like morphology, Al-STCs were employedfor the fabrication of a powder based membrane to purify water ina dead-end filtration mode. Various pollutants, for instance, dyessuch as malachite green (with rejection of >99.9% and flux 1522LMH) and methylene blue (with rejection of >99.9% and flux 885LMH), pharmaceutical drugs such as ciprofloxacin and (with rejectionof >99.9% and flux 1011 LMH) and paracetamol (with rejection of53% and flux 1010 LMH), oxytocin hormone (with rejection of 88.6%and flux 955 LMH), surfactant CTAB (with rejection of 94.9% and flux1436 LMH), and heavy metal [Cr­(VI) with rejection of >99.9% andflux 932 LMH] were successfully removed from aqueous solution usingan Al-STCs based membrane. Moreover, a membrane active surface wasregenerated by simple ethanol washing and reused for five consecutivecycles without compromising the flux and rejection, thus demonstratingthe utility of an Al-STC based membrane as an easy-to-use and ecofriendlymembrane toward all kinds of water purification in a sustainable andaffordable manner. The present study discloseda facile and affordable waterpurification technology using a solvothermal carbon based membraneengineered from a eutectic system.

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