The heavy metals, such as Pb(II) and radioisotope Cr(III), in aqueous solutions are toxic even at trace levels and have caused adverse health impacts on human beings. Hence the removal of these heavy metals from the aqueous environment is of the utmost importance to protect biodiversity, hydrosphere ecosystems, and human beings. In this study, the reduced graphene oxide based inverse spinel nickel ferrite (rGONF) nanocomposite has been prepared and was utilized for the removal of Pb(II) and Cr(III) from aqueous solutions. The prepared rGONF has been confirmed by X-ray photoelectron (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The surface characteristics of rGONF were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analysis. The average particle size of rGONF was found to be 32.0 ± 2.0 nm. The surface site density for the specific surface area (Ns) of rGONF was found to be 0.00238 mol·g⁻¹, which was higher than that of the graphene oxide (GO) and NiFe₂O₄, which was expected. The prepared rGONF has been successfully applied for the removal of Pb(II) and Cr(III) by batch mode. The batch adsorption studies concluded that the adsorption of Pb(II) and Cr(III) onto rGONF was rapid and the adsorption percentage was more than 99% for both metal ions. The adsorption isotherm results found that the adsorptive removal of both metal ions onto rGONF occurred through monolayer adsorption on a homogeneous surface of rGONF. The pH-edge adsorption results suggest the adsorption occurs through an inner-sphere surface complex, which is proved by 2-pKa-diffusion model fitting, where the pH-edge adsorption data was well fitted. The adsorption of metal ions increased with increasing temperature. The overall obtained results demonstrated that the rGONF was an effective adsorbent for Pb(II) and Cr(III) removal from wastewater.

Due to health and pollution concerns of aquatic environments related to the presence of heavy metal toxic ions, the necessity of developing devices able to detect and to monitor such kinds of species has recently gained importance. Carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) a starting approach to obtain new ion-selective devices by supporting materials like bentonite and/or clay; which become sensitive to lead(II) when they are suitably modified by chemical treatments to obtain different hybrid materials. In this work, two natural clays and three different hybrid materials were produced and then were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to assess their physico-chemical properties. After this stage, the electrochemical characterization of the modified CPEs using hybrid materials was performed by cyclic voltammetry, using the standard Fe(CN)₆⁴⁻/Fe(CN)₆³⁻ redox couple. Subsequently, this study performed electrochemical experiments on lead(II) containing solutions, to test the ability of the examined CPEs to detect this toxic ion present in very low amounts. Lead(II) exhibited a reversible two electron oxidation/reduction behaviour in the cyclic voltammetry analyses and a reasonably good linear behaviour of the current associated with the oxidation peak as a function of its concentration (5.0–40.0 μg/L). The detection limit was found to vary in the range of 3–5 μg/L for the different modified CPEs. The presence of several co-existing ions showed that an interference variation had occurred. These results, therefore, show a restriction of the selectivity of the electrode up to a certain extent in the lead(II) detection. Finally, tap water with spiked lead(II) was analyzed to verify the suitability of the electrodes in the low level detection of lead(II) from real matrix samples.

Heavy metal ions (HMIs) are exceedingly hazardous to both humans and the environment, and the necessity to eliminate them from aqueous systems prompted the development of novel materials. In this study, tris(2-benzimidazolylmethyl)amine (NTB) was impregnated into MIL-101-(Cr) metal-organic framework using an incipient wetness impregnation approach, and the ability of the composite material to adsorb Hg²⁺ ions from the water was examined. The synthesized materials were analyzed with several physico-chemical techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen sorption isotherms at 77 K, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. MIL-101-NTB quickly adsorbs 93.9% of Hg²⁺ ions within 10 min from a 10.0 ppm single ion solution. A better fit of the kinetic data to a pseudo-second-order model validated the chemisorption of Hg²⁺ ions on MIL-101-NTB. The experimental data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the maximum adsorption capacity obtained at 125 ppm initial concentration was 111.03 mg/g. Despite the presence of other competing ions (Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Cd²⁺), high Hg²⁺ ions removal efficiency (99.6%, 1.0 ppm initial concentration) was maintained in the diverse ion batch adsorption studies. A 0.2 M EDTA solution could desorb the Hg²⁺ ions, and cyclic Hg²⁺ ions sorption studies indicated that MIL-101-NTB might have a high Hg²⁺ ions removal efficiency for at least five consecutive cycles. Based on the FTIR and XPS analyses, Hg²⁺ ions chelation by NTB molecules and electrostatic interactions between Hg²⁺ ions and carboxylate groups in MIL-101-NTB are plausible mechanisms for Hg²⁺ ions adsorption.