Construction of HCP@CNFs with high specific surface area via in-situ growth for highly efficient dye pollutants removal

A novel carbon nanofibers-based hyper-crosslinked polymer composites (HCP@CNFs) were prepared through an in-situ growth method to immobilize hyper-crosslinked polymers (HCP) into carbon nanofibers (CNFs) matrix for dye pollutants removal. The composites combined the advantage of the excellent easy recovery properties of CNFs with high specific surface area characteristics of HCP. Compared with pure CNFs, the HCP@CNFs displayed a high specific surface area of 1110.19 m2/g and abundant mesopore volumes of 1.02 cm3/g, thus achieving outstanding adsorption performance for various pollutants, especially for the removal of Congo red (CR) and Rhodamine B (RhB). At 298 K, the maximum adsorption amounts of CR and RhB onto HCP@CNFs were 2164.36 ± 109.72 and 1715.00 ± 92.55 mg/g, respectively, which was superior to those of other advanced adsorbents. And the as-prepared HCP@CNFs still remained over 80 % adsorption capability after five regenerations. Additionally, the excellent adsorption performance of HCP@CNFs for CR and RhB in lake water proved that it has broad practical application prospects. Overall, this work provides a new research strategy for the design of HCP@CNFs composites and the remediation of dyes-containing wastewater. [Display omitted] •The HCP@CNFs was prepared by in-situ growth of HCP on CNFs matrix.•The HCP@CNFs owned high specific surface area of 1110.19 m2/g and abundant pore volume of 1.14 cm3/g.•The HCP@CNFs exhibited excellent adsorption capability for various pollutants, especially for CR and RhB.•The HCP@CNFs presented expansive application prospect in practical wastewater.