α-Zirconium phosphate nanosheets composite on cotton fiber for the removal of heavy metals

Abstract

A novel adsorbent was prepared through a facile layer-by-layer method and was utilized for the removal of heavy metal ions. Firstly, highly crystalline α-ZrP nanoparticles were synthesized and then exfoliated into single-layer nanosheets. The extremely thin nanosheets were uniformly deposited on the surface of cotton through a simple layer-by-layer method with various layers. The resultant adsorbents were applied for the adsorption of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ in different conditions and the results showed that the adsorbent performed the best at pH 5 when one layer was deposited. The O-ZrP₁@C mixture exhibited the highest adsorption capacities of all, with 83.75 mg/g for Cu²⁺, 29.16 mg/g for Ni²⁺ and 55.66 mg/g for Cd²⁺. The results showed that the experimental data were fitted in pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model. The results indicated that the ZrP-cotton mixture would be a promising candidate for practical application in the treatment of wastewater contaminated with heavy metal ions.

Keywords:

• Cotton fiber
• ZrP nanomaterials
• layer-by-layer
• adsorption
• heavy metals

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest has been reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Experimental evaluation and theoretical study on classified displacement of binary flooding in conglomerate reservoir (2020Q103).