Bifunctional collagen fiber/carbon quantum dot fluorescent adsorbent for efficient adsorption and detection of Pb2+

In this work, fluorescent adsorbents that can efficiently detect and remove Pb2+ were developed by integrating the designed amino-modified carbon quantum dots and carboxyl-modified collagen. The adsorption properties of the fluorescent adsorbent were further optimized and analyzed using a series of response surface experiments. The maximum adsorption concentration for Pb2+ was 183 mg.g-1. The adsorption isotherms fit well with the Langmuir model, and the adsorption kinetics fit with the pseudo-second-order model. The emission intensity of the fluorescent adsorbent gradually decreased with the increase of the concentration of Pb2+, and had a good linear correlation. In addition, the mechanism of detection and removal of Pb2+ by fluorescent adsorbents was further demonstrated. The novel three-dimensional structured fluorescent aerogel can be used as a promising adsorbent with good adsorption concentration and sensing ability for Pb2+, which shows great prospects in wastewater.