Manganese Deposition Content in Carbon Nanotubes Based Filters: Energy Dispersive X-ray and Rutherford Backscatter Spectrometry Investigations

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based filters have a prospective advantage compared to the commercial filters due to their lightweight and ability to work without electricity or heat. The manganese (Mn) removal from aqueous solutions by oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNTs) was investigated. The filtration performance was studied under ambient conditions: the solution pH, the initial manganese concentration, and the MWCNT-filter mass. The samples of MWCNT-filters were investigated using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and rutherford backscatter spectrometry (RBS) to account for the manganese content within the MWCNT-filter. These techniques were conducted to study the oxidation effect on the morphology of MWCNTs and evaluate the oxygen functional groups and the average diameter distribution. Based on these examinations, the competence of Mn removal may exceed 91% for 50 ppm initial concentration of Mn, proposing that functionalized MWCNTs is a promising filter. The Mn removal was achieved at low pH with removal enhancement at the pH of 2. Functionalized MWCNTs based filters are promising candidate for heavy metal ions removal from industrial wastewater.