Abstract
Purpose
Adsorption of metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn) to TiO2 nanoparticles and bulk particles was examined for use as a contaminant removal substrate as a function of particle size, sorbent concentration, and exhaustion.
Methods
Adsorption experiments were conducted with 0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 g/L nanoparticles in a pH 8 solution and in spiked San Antonio tap water.
Results
When results were normalized by mass, nanoparticles adsorbed more than the bulk particles but when results were surface-area normalized, the opposite was observed. The adsorption data shows the ability of the TiO2 nanoparticles to remove Pb, Cd, and Ni from solution with similar adsorption at 0.1 and 0.5 g/L. Adsorption kinetics for all metals tested was described by a modified first order rate equation with the nanoparticles having a faster rate of adsorption than the bulk particles. The nanoparticles were able to simultaneously removal multiple metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, Cu) from both pH 8 solution and spiked San Antonio tap water. Exhaustion experiments showed that both the nanoparticles and bulk particles were exhausted at pH 6 but at pH 8, exhaustion did not occur for the nanoparticles.
Conclusion
Comparison of K d, distribution coefficient, with other literature showed that the nanoparticles were better sorbents than other metal oxide nanoparticles and a commercial activated carbon.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation through the Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering (EEC-0823685) and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
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Responsible editor: Hailong Wang
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Engates, K.E., Shipley, H.J. Adsorption of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Ni to titanium dioxide nanoparticles: effect of particle size, solid concentration, and exhaustion. Environ Sci Pollut Res 18, 386–395 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-010-0382-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-010-0382-3