Efficient adsorption of Hg(II) from aqueous solution by N, S co-doped MnFe2O4@C magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract N, S co-doped MnFe2O4@C magnetic nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a simple method involving the preparation of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and subsequent pyrolysis treatment. The physical and chemical properties of MnFe2O4, MnFe2O4@C and MnFe2O4@C–NS nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption and the pH at the point of zero charge. Their performances in the adsorption of Hg(II) from water were investigated. The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and the experimental data of equilibrium isotherms fitted well with the Langmuir model. MnFe2O4@C–NS showed the highest adsorption capacity of 108.56 mg/g, increasing more than 1.7 times compared to MnFe2O4. The enhanced adsorption performance was attributed to the larger specific surface area as well as the complexation of N and S ligands on the surface. The thermodynamic parameters of ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG° at 30 °C were −24.39 kJ/mol, −0.046 kJ/mol K and −10.45 kJ/mol, respectively, which indicated that the adsorption of Hg(II) on MnFe2O4@C–NS was exothermic and spontaneous in nature. Moreover, MnFe2O4@C–NS showed superior selectivity towards Hg(II) compared with other metal ions generally present in mercury-containing industrial wastewater.