Designing of SrFe2O4-decorated sulfur-MXene for super-fast adsorption of mercury

Needless to say, the severity of water pollution reached its peak, raising awareness to find a convenient strategy for improving this troublesome situation. Mercury (Hg2+) is listed as the 6th among the most jeopardous heavy metals. In this respect, MXene was double modified by; (i) Sulfur-doping to boost its affinity toward Hg2+, and then (ii) blending sulfur-doping MXene with the magnetic SrFe2O4 that could provide excellent recyclability and adsorption aptitude. Characterization analyses like XRD, XPS, and FTIR were applied to assure the well-fabrication of SrFe2O4/S-MXene and investigate its crystallinity, chemical composition, and function groups. The morphological structure of SrFe2O4/S-MXene was shown via SEM. Besides, the magnetization character and net surface charge were deduced by VSM and ZP measurements, respectively. Interestingly, it was observed superior adsorbability of SrFe2O4/S-MXene towards Hg2+ where qmax attained 838.99 mg/g during 15 min merely at pH 6 and 25 °C. Equilibrium isotherms elucidated the appropriateness of Freundlich and Langmuir to model the Hg2+ adsorption onto SrFe2O4/S-MXene. Additionally, kinetic analysis denoted that the adsorption data of Hg2+ obeyed the PSO. The adsorption mechanism of Hg2+ onto SrFe2O4/S-MXene was assumed to proceed by electrostatic interaction, surface complexation, and reduction reaction.