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Remediation of cadmium-contaminated soil by micro-nano nitrogen-doped biochar and its mechanisms

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Abstract

Cadmium-contaminated soils are an urgent problem that needs to be solved in many countries and regions. In this study, a new heavy metal passivator, micro-nano nitrogen-doped biochar (Nm-NBC), was prepared by introducing nitrogen into biochar. Soybean was used as an experimental plant to compare the effects of corn straw biochar (CBC, not modified), ammonium chloride modified corn straw biochar (NBC), and micro-nano nitrogen-doped biochar (Nm-NBC) on the remediation of Cdcontaminated soil. The results showed that the biomass of soybean, pH, organic matter, and total nitrogen content of the Cd-contaminated soil significantly increased, and the available Cd in soil significantly reduced (P < 0.05) when CBC, NBC, and Nm-NBC were added. The effect was as follows: Nm-NBC > NBC > CBC; Nm-NBC had the best result. When 1% Nm-NBC added to the soil, the Cd content in beans reduced by 68.09%. BET, FTIR, XPS, and SEM were used to analyze the characteristics of Nm-NBC and its mechanisms in the remediation of Cd-contaminated soils. The results showed that Nm-NBC had larger specific surface area and abundant functional groups; -COOH and graphitic nitrogen in Nm-NBC can form Cd–O bond and Cd-π with Cd(II) in the soil. Therefore, Nm-NBC prepared by introducing nitrogen into biochar has a promising application in the remediation of Cd-contaminated soil.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 21B0451), the Teaching Research and Reform Project of Hunan Province (HNJG-2022–0174), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41501343).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resource & Environment and Safety Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411201, People’s Republic of China

    Guoliang Chen, Yongqing Ma, Wenting Xu, Zhang Chen, Zhixian Li, Jianlin Zhou & Weijian Yu

  2. Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Coal Resources Clean-Utilization and Mine Environment Protection, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411201, People’s Republic of China

    Guoliang Chen, Yongqing Ma, Wenting Xu, Zhang Chen, Zhixian Li, Jianlin Zhou & Weijian Yu

Authors
  1. Guoliang Chen
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  2. Yongqing Ma
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  3. Wenting Xu
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  4. Zhang Chen
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  5. Zhixian Li
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Contributions

Guoliang Chen: conceptualization, methodology, writing-reviewing and editing. Yongqing Ma: experiments, formal analysis, data curation, writing-Original draft. Wenting Xu: experiments. Zhang Chen: writing-reviewing. Zhixian Li: writing-reviewing. Jianlin Zhou: writing-reviewing; Weijian Yu: writing-reviewing.

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Correspondence to Guoliang Chen.

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Responsible Editor: Zhihong Xu

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Chen, G., Ma, Y., Xu, W. et al. Remediation of cadmium-contaminated soil by micro-nano nitrogen-doped biochar and its mechanisms. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 48078–48087 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25674-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25674-6

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