Arsenicosis was recognized over 104 years ago. Elevated arsenic (As) concentrations in water is faced by about 200 million people worldwide and has become one of the biggest challenges in the context of water purification. Providing sustainable and affordable solutions to tackle this menace is a need of the hour. Adsorption on advanced materials is increasingly being recognized as a potential solution. Here, we report various functionalized microcellulose-reinforced 2-line ferrihydrite composites which show outstanding As(III) and As(V) adsorption capacities. Green synthesis of the composite yields granular media with high mechanical strength which show faster adsorption kinetics in a wide pH range, irrespective of the presence of other interfering ions in water. The composites and their interaction with As(III) and As(V) were studied by XRD, HRTEM, SEM, XPS, Raman, TG, and IR spectroscopy. Performance of the media in the form of cartridge reaffirms its utility for point-of-use water purification. We show that cellulose microstructures are more efficient than corresponding nanostructures for the purpose of arsenic remediation. We have also performed an evaluation of several sustainability metrics to understand the “greenness” of the composite and its manufacturing process.

中文翻译：

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使用性能优于纳米结构的微结构制造的可持续且价格合理的复合材料，用于除砷

砷中毒已有104年的历史了。全球约2亿人口面临着砷（As）浓度升高的问题，这已成为水净化领域的最大挑战之一。提供可承受且负担得起的解决方案来解决这种威胁是刻不容缓的。在先进材料上的吸附越来越被认为是一种潜在的解决方案。在这里，我们报告各种功能化的微纤维素增强2线铁水合物复合材料，显示出出色的As（III）和As（V）吸附能力。复合材料的绿色合成产生具有高机械强度的颗粒介质，无论在水中是否存在其他干扰离子，该介质在较宽的pH范围内均显示出更快的吸附动力学。用XRD研究了复合物及其与As（III）和As（V）的相互作用，HRTEM，SEM，XPS，拉曼，TG和IR光谱。滤筒形式的介质性能再次证明了其在使用点水净化中的实用性。我们表明，纤维素的微结构比相应的纳米结构更有效地进行砷修复。我们还对几种可持续性指标进行了评估，以了解复合材料及其制造过程的“绿色”。