Facile in situ synthesis of cellulose microcrystalline-manganese dioxide nanocomposite for effective removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from water.

A novel cellulose microcrystalline-manganese dioxide nanocomposite (CMC-NMO) was synthesized by the redox reaction between potassium permanganate and ethanol based on cellulose microcrystalline. The cellulose microcrystalline (CMC) as support providing growth sites for the manganese dioxide nanowhiskers produced by the redox reaction and its application for Pb(II) and Cd(II) removal from aqueous was investigated. The characterization of as-synthesized material was revealed by various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Infrared-transform infrared (FITR) indicates that the incorporation of manganese oxide to CMC does not change the initial structure of it. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data show that the manganese dioxide nanowhiskers with a few nanometers are uniformly dispersed on the surface of cellulose. Kinetics experiments reveal that Pb(II) and Cd(II) adsorption on CMC-NMO is a fast process and pseudo-second-order model fits the adsorption better. The maximum adsorption capacities of Pb(II) and Cd(II) obtained from the Langmuir model are 290.8 mg/g and 67.4 mg/g, respectively. The mechanism is mainly attributed to surface complexation and electrostatic attraction by energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. In addition, depth removal experiments show that the residual concentrations of Pb(II) and Cd(II) in natural water after adsorption are lower than 0.01 mg/L. The regeneration and cyclic utilizing studies indicate that CMC-NMO has good adsorption stability. Therefore, the results indicate that this material can be employed as a potential adsorbent for current serious Pb(II) and Cd(II) pollution caused by industrial emissions. Graphical abstract.