Facile synthesis of V 2 CT x @RGO composite aerogel via hydrothermal reaction and its dye adsorption performance

High-purity V 2 CT x MXene was successfully synthesized by etching V 2 AlC with hydrofluoric acid with stirring at room temperature. Special porous MXene V 2 CT x @RGO composite aerogel was then fabricated with different proportions of original materials of V 2 CT x and graphene oxide (GO). Modern testing and analysis techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electronic data switching (EDS) were used to characterize the structural properties and surface morphology of the prepared hybrid aerogel. Additionally, V 2 CT x @RGO 2 composite aerogel with the volume ratio of V 2 CT x and GO solution 1:1 possesses the highest adsorption capacity (160 mg/g) and decolorization rate (over 90%) for methyl orange and adsorption capacity (142 mg/g) for methylene blue, which can be attributed to the cooperation of H-bonding interactions and van der Waals forces. Meanwhile, the studies of adsorption isotherm parameters and kinetics of the obtained aerogels suggest that the adsorption toward dyes is consistent with the Langmuir isotherm, pseudo-second-order reaction kinetic and intra-particle diffusion rate models, respectively. V 2 CT x @RGO hybrid aerogel is expected to be an effective and novel absorbent for dyes.