Graphene and its derivatives used in the removal of ibuprofen from contaminated water

Recently, contaminants known as emergent have appeared, among which are different drugs that due to their excessive use are causing serious damage to different ecosystems and therefore to the population that feeds on them, so these residues are a cause for concern. The objective of the present work was to develop materials capable of adsorbing ibuprofen in contaminated water. The materials evaluated were graphene (G), graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and zinc oxide (ZnO), which were characterized by different techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, FTIR, and RAMAN spectroscopy. The ibuprofen adsorption was measured by UV–visible technique, the adsorption time analysis was for 90 min. The reduced graphene oxide showed the highest adsorption percentage, reaching a removal of 43.5% in the analysis time, on the other hand, the material with the lowest adsorption was graphene oxide, reaching only 11.2% in the same analysis time. Graphical abstract