The Removal of Ruthenium-Based Complexes N3 Dye from DSSC Wastewater Using Copper Impregnated KOH-Activated Bamboo Charcoal

In this study, Cu-modified activated bamboo charcoal is studied for its performance in removing simulated ruthenium dye wastes. The bamboo belonging to the genus Gigantochloa was used as the starting material to prepare the bamboo charcoal (BC). The BC is activated using KOH, NaOH, and HCl. The activated BCs were then further modified using CuCl 2 . H 2 O solution to obtain Cu-impregnated BC. The elemental, functional groups, and surface morphology analyses were carried out to characterize the adsorbents. The Ru complex dye adsorption process was evaluated by batch adsorption experiments, and out of all the adsorbents, the copper-modified KOH-activated bamboo charcoal (10BCKOH) showed the highest adsorption capability. Then, the 10BCKOH characterize with BET, SEM, EXD, XRD, and FTIR before and after the adsorption and optimize the adsorption parameters of pH, dosage, contact time, and initial concentration. The adsorption of the Ru dye is strongly dependent on the pH of the dye solution. The adsorption isotherm has a strong correlation with the Freundlich model, with the value of R 2 at 0.927 ( K F = 0.0235). The maximum adsorption capacity predicted by the Langmuir model was 64.4 mg.g −1 for 10BCKOH sample. The adsorption process fitted well to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model ( R 2 = 0.996). The kinetic and isotherm parameters showed that the adsorption of Ru complex onto 10BCKOH was feasible and spontaneous under the reported experimental conditions, and the ion exchange mechanism played a significant role in the process. Our results have shown that 10BCKOH is effective for the removal of Ru dye from the aqueous solution. Graphical abstract