Removal of mercury ions from aqueous solution by thiourea-functionalized magnetic biosorbent: Preparation and mechanism study.

A novel magnetic bio-material (MCIT) was synthesized via coupling reaction and functional modification after load of Fe3O4 nano-particle on the puckered surface of cyclosorus interruptus (CI). The synthesized material was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD). The influence factors like pH, temperatures, contact time, initial concentration and cycle times on the adsorption of Hg (II) in aqueous solution were studied. Adsorption isotherm, kinetics, selectivity and mechanism were investigated. The results indicated that the isotherm model well agreed with monolayer adsorption model. The adsorption process could be divided into three steps, which included a fast step controlled by chemical adsorption, a slow step limited by intraparticle diffusion and an equilibrium stage. The maximum adsorption capacity of Hg (II) was 385.3mg/g at 318K. MCIT possessed high reusability (retained 93% after five successive cycles) and sharply magnetic nature (9.5emu/g), which endowed it easy and efficient separation from aqueous solution.