Achieving high adsorption capacity and ultrafast removal of methylene blue and Pb²⁺ by graphene-like TiO₂@C

Water pollution from heavy metal ions and organic have threatened human health and the removal of those pollutions from wastewater has become a critical issue around the world. Herein, we synthesized the ultrathin, high surface area graphene-like TiO₂@C adsorbent via a simple solvothermal process. Benefiting from the unique structure, abundant active functional groups and high surface area (417 m² g⁻¹), the TiO₂@C-2 exhibited high adsorption capacities of Pb²⁺ (331.7 mg/g) and methylene blue (444.8 mg/g). In addition, the adsorption equilibriums of graphene-like can be achieved within 2 min. The FTIR and XPS analysis proving that the high adsorption capacities attribute to hydroxyl groups, hydrogen bonding/or electrostatic. This investigation not only provides a new insight to design TiO₂@C hybrid adsorbent but also demonstrates its promising application in removal heavy metals and organic pollutions from aqueous solution.