Unprecedented nitrate adsorption efficiency of carbon-silicon nano composites prepared from bamboo leaves Manikandan Muthu a , D. Ramachandran b , Nazim Hasan c , M. Jeevanandam d , Judy Gopal a, * , Sechul Chun a, ** a Department of Bioresource and Food Science, Konkuk University, Seoul,143-701, South Korea b Centre for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Sathyabama University, Chennai, 600119, India c Department of Medical Chemistry, Jazan University, Jazan, 82822, Saudi Arabia d Department of Geology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Hawassa University, Ethiopia highlights graphical abstract  CSNCs prepared form Bamboo leaves were used for nitrate removal.  CSNCs also efficient in removal of Cl  , F  and SO 4  ions.  Adsorption of nitrate on CSNCs was confirmed by FTIR RAMAN and XPS.  Mechanism was confirmed by Raman Spectroscopy and XPS as physisorption. article info Article history: Received 3 October 2016 Received in revised form 6 December 2016 Accepted 12 December 2016 Available online 18 December 2016 Keywords: Carbon material Nanocomposites Carbonization Nitrate removal Bioresource Eco-friendly abstract We report the effective synthesis of carbon-silicon nano composites (CSNCs) from silica rich bamboo leaves using the carbonization method and validate their nitrate adsorption ability. The indigenously synthesized carbon materials were characterized via FESEM and XRD analysis. Nitrate ion adsorption efficiency of CSNCs (45.35%) was 2.06 fold (45.35%) higher than their bulk counterparts. The nitrate adsorption mechanism on the CSNCs was further investigated using FTIR, RAMAN and XPS spectroscopic analysis and the results revealed that the CSNCs could adsorb nitrate ions onto their surfaces through physisorption. . © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Anthropogenic activity, quite often discharges numerous toxic chemicals along with other biologically essential life sustaining chemical compounds in excessive levels, causing a wide variety of adverse effects on environments which in turn ultimately affect human beings. Nitrogen based compounds, in particular nitrates, are one among them and they are released into the environment from various sources such as chemical fertilizers, discharge from farmlands, domestic and industrial waste water etc., [1,2]. At excessive levels, nitrate is a direct threat to human beings by causing diseases such as cyanosis and cancer of the * Corresponding author. ** Corresponding author. E-mail address: scchun@konkuk.ac.kr (J. Gopal). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Materials Chemistry and Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2016.12.032 0254-0584/© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. Materials Chemistry and Physics 189 (2017) 12e21