Fabrication of a carbon cloth-based FeS nanosystem for simultaneous removal of Cr(VI) and microplastics

As two kinds of environmental pollutants, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and microplastics could be simultaneously released into the environment through agricultural production, industrial wastewater, and domestic sewage, resulting in combined pollution. Therefore, it was an important challenge to remove both Cr(VI) and microplastics simultaneously and effectively reduce their environmental impacts. In this study, ferrous sulfide (FeS) was fabricated by hydrothermal treatment and uniformly loaded on the surface of carbon cloth (CC) by using the conductive carbon paint (CCP) to obtain a nanosystem named as CC/CCP/FeS. Therein, FeS could provide electrons and have a high reduction capability for Cr(VI). CC could decrease the impedance of the nanosystem to 30 Ω, accelerate the transfer of electrons, and effectively solve the agglomeration of FeS. Importantly, CC/CCP/FeS could remove both Cr(VI) and microplastics in water at the same time, after which the resulting system could be conveniently separated from the water. The removal efficiencies of CC/CCP/FeS with nine layers for Cr(VI) and microplastics could reach 96 and 100 % by filtration, respectively. Additionally, pot experiment results indicated that CC/CCP/FeS could promote the growth of water spinach and reduce its Cr content from 273 to 31 mg/kg. Therefore, this research provides an effective method to simultaneously remove Cr(VI) and microplastics, which may have a huge application prospect for industrial wastewater treatment.