Aramid nanofibers/WS2 nanosheets co-assembled aerogels for efficient and stable Pb (II) adsorption in harsh environments

• Aramid nanofibers were used to facilitate the liquid exfoliation of WS 2 nanosheets. • Aerogels were built through simple phase inversion triggered co-assembly processes. • The aerogel exhibited excellent absorption capacity towards Pb 2+ ions. • ANFs/WS 2 aerogels displayed favorable chemical resistance and thermal stabilities. • The adsorption can occur at high temperature and show good recyclability. Mono- or several- layered transition-metal dichalcogenides nanosheets (TMDNs) based aerogels with strong affinity to Pb 2+ seems to be perfect adsorbents for the removal of Pb 2+ from contaminated water. However, the lack of structural stabilities hindered their actual applications in some extreme conditions (e.g., acid and high temperatures). In this work, synthetic aramid nanofibers (ANFs) were applied for the first time to facilitate the liquid-phase exfoliation of WS 2 nanosheets, and the chemical resistant and thermal stable composite aerogels (ANFs/WS 2 ) were built through simple phase inversion triggered co-assembly processes. ANFs/WS 2 aerogels maintained their micro cross-linked structures intact at common solvents (e.g., ethanol, acetone and 1 M HCl) and high temperatures (e.g., 300 °C for 7 days), exhibited promising Pb 2+ adsorption capacity at 75 °C (∼309.8 mg/g), and kept high resorption ratios (∼96% after 10 cycles and ∼85% after 50 cycles under room temperature, and ∼91% after 10 cycles under 75 °C). Thus, this work paved a feasible strategy to construct TMDNs-based aerogel adsorbents that were suitable for the Pb 2+ removal in harsh environments.