Production of magnetic sodium alginate polyelectrolyte nanospheres for lead ions removal from wastewater

Abstract Polyelectrolyte composite nanospheres are relatively new adsorbents which have attracted much attention for their efficient pollutant removal and reuse performance. A novel polyelectrolyte nanosphere with magnetic function (SA@AM) was synthesized via the electrostatic reaction between the polyanionic sodium alginate (SA) and the surface of a prepared terminal amino-based magnetic nanoparticles (AMs). SA@AM showed a size of 15–22 nm with 6.85 emu·g−1 of magnetization value, exhibiting a high adsorption capacity on Pb(II) ions representing a common heavy metal pollutant, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 105.8 mg g−1. The Langmuir isotherm adsorption fits the adsorption curve, indicating uniform adsorption of Pb(II) on the SA@AM surfaces. Repeated adsorption desorption experiments showed that the removal ratio of Pb(II) by SA@AM was more than 76%, illustrating improved regeneration performance. These results provide useful information for the production of bio-based green magnetic nano scale adsorption materials for environmental remediation applications.