Assessment of 3-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazole modified layered double hydroxide in effective remediation of heavy metal ions from aqueous environment

Abstract

Chemical modification of layered double hydroxide Mg–Cu–Al (LDH) to obtain its modified form using 3-amino1H-1,2,4-triazole (MLDH) Mg–Cu–Al during its synthesis by co-precipitation method. The fabricated LDH and their modified form were established using XRD, FTIR, XPS, TEM, SEM and BET N2 adsorption–desorption techniques. The prepared LDH and MLDH were evaluated as efficient adsorbents during the remediation of copper and cadmium ionic species in the solution medium. The variables of the adsorption process including the mass of used adsorbents, the acidity of the medium, and concentration of ionic species in the medium, temperature, and process time were examined. The results were used to optimize the adsorption process efficiency of both metal ions. The adsorption capacity of Cu2+ and Cd2+ was raised from 593 mg/g and 326 mg/g for LDH to 639 mg/g and 457 mg/g for MLDH, respectively. MLDH showed the optimized efficiency for Cu2+ and Cd2+ after 180 min, using 0.4 g/L of the adsorbent, in alkaline medium (pH = 9) at 25 °C. The isotherm model of the adsorption path was followed up by the Freundlich isotherm and the kinetic model was followed by the pseudo-second-order model.