Manganese-doped hydroxyapatite as an effective adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II)

The water polluted by lead(Pb(II)) and cadmium(Cd(II)) seriously endangers ecological safety and needs to be solved urgently. Because of the relatively low adsorption rate of pure hydroxyapatite for heavy metals, a series of manganese-doped hydroxyapatites (MnHAPs) were prepared by using manganese, a common impurity in hydroxyapatite, as a doping element to improve the adsorption performance. The structural and functional groups of the materials with different Mn/(Ca +Mn) molar ratios (0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization. The presence of manganese influenced the formation and growth of hydroxyapatite crystals, resulting in lattice distortion and a large number of lattice defects in materials. Among them, manganese-doped hydroxyapatite with a Mn/(Ca +Mn) molar ratio of 10% (MnHAP-10) could most effectively remove Pb(II) and Cd(II), with the adsorption capacity of 1806.09 mg g-1 for Pb(II) at pH = 5 and 176.88 mg g-1 for Cd(II) at pH = 5.5. Then the adsorption behavior and mechanism were further researched systemically. It was concluded that the immobilization of Pb(II) by MnHAP-10 was mainly through dissolution precipitation and ion exchange, while Cd(II) was adsorbed by ion exchange and electrostatic interaction. In conclusion, MnHAP-10 has the potential to be applied as an effective adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) pollution.