Low-Cost and Environmental-Friendly Kaolinite-Intercalated Hybrid Material Showing Fast Formaldehyde Adsorbing Behavior

Formaldehydeis a widespread used chemical and its toxicity and volatility threaten seriously human health. Although the active carbon is a cheap and frequently used material for adsorption of formaldehyde indoor or inside new car, the physical adsorption needs too long time and the adsorbed formaldehyde is finally released in air. Herein we report an indeed low-cost and environmental-friendly formaldehyde adsorbent, which is made from the mineral kaolinite intercalated with natural amino acid L-α-alanine (the intercalated compound is abbreviated as K-Ala). The hybrid K-Ala was characterized by elemental analysis for C, H and N; thermogravimetric, infrared spectroscopy and powder x-ray diffraction. Interestingly, the saturate adsorption is reached within six hours with the maximum adsorption amount of 45.6 milligram HCHO per gram of K-Ala compared with commercial activated carbons that the adsorption capacity increase more than five times (7.62 mg/g). On the basis of DFT calculations, the mechanism is analyzed for the quick adsorption of formaldehyde.