Copper recovery from industrial wastewater - Synergistic electrodeposition onto nanocarbon materials

Funding Information: G.S, B.K, and D.J. would like to thank the National Center for Research and Development, Poland (under the Leader program, grant agreement LIDER/0001/L-8/16/NCBR/2017). G.S. and D.J. also acknowledge the National Agency for Academic Exchange of Poland (under the Academic International Partnerships program, grant agreement PPI/APM/2018/1/00004) for supporting training in the Aalto University , which enabled the execution of the study. G.S. acknowledges the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland for financial support of scientific work from budget funds for science in the years 2019–2023 as a research project under the “Diamond Grant” program (grant agreement 0036/DIA/201948). P-M.H. and M.L. acknowledge the support of the “NoWASTE” project (Grant 297962) funded by Academy of Finland . Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)In this study, copper present in industrial waste water with a variety of other impurities (Fe, Mg, Al, Zn, As) was subjected for selective electrochemical recovery. The recovery was conducted directly on carbon nanostructures in order to create added-value products synergistically. In-depth electrochemical and structural analysis showed that single/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene composites could provide an excellent substrate for Cu's electrochemical recovery. Furthermore, formulations based on them also enabled the formation of even Cu deposits on the surface directly from wastewater solutions without further bath condition adjustments. After just 1-h electrodeposition at −0.1V vs. SCE, a nanocomposite based on CNTs was obtained. Cu was recovered exclusively and accounted for 45% of the total weight of the composite.Peer reviewe