Silanized fiberglass modified by carbon dots as novel and impressive adsorbent for aqueous heavy metal ion removal

This work discusses the application of a silanized fiberglass (SFG) modified by carbon dots (CDs) as an effective adsorbent for up-taking some heavy metal ions including lead (Pb 2+ ), chromium (Cr 3+ ), cadmium (Cd 2+ ), cobalt (Co 2+ ), and nickel (Ni 2+ ) as pollutant in the aqueous solution by batch method. Removal tests were carried out after optimization of pH, contact time, initial concentration of metal ions, and CDs amount. The SFG modified with CDs (CDs-SFG) was applied for the removal of 10 ppm of each metal ion solution after 100 min and the corresponding results showed the removal efficiencies of 100, 93.2, 91.8, 90, and 88.3% for Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cr 3+ , Co 2+ , and Ni 2+ , respectively. The adsorption capacity of CDs-SFG in the metal ion mixed solution was also evaluated, and the results indicated the same trend in the adsorption capacity for metal ions in the mixed solution, though with lower absolute values compared to the single metal solutions. Moreover, the selectivity of this adsorbent for the adsorption of Pb 2+ was almost twice of other tested metal ions. The regeneration of the CDs-SFG showed that its adsorption capacity after five cycles was reduced about 3.9, 6.0, 6.8, 6.7, and 8.0% for Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cr 3+ , Co 2+ , and Ni 2+ , respectively. Finally, the applicability of the CDs-SFG adsorbent was examined with the analysis of the metal ions in water and wastewater samples. Graphical Abstract