Removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution by oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were employed as sorbent to study the sorption characteristic of Pb(II) from aqueous solution as a function of contact time, pH, ionic strength, foreign ions, and oxidized MWCNTs' contents under ambient conditions using batch technique. The results indicate that sorption of Pb(II) on oxidized MWCNTs is strongly dependent on pH values, and independent of ionic strength and the type of foreign ions. The removal of Pb(II) to oxidized MWCNTs is rather quickly and the kinetic sorption can be described by a pseudo-second-order model very well. Sorption of Pb(II) is mainly dominated by surface complexation rather than ion exchange. The efficient removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution is limited at pH 7-10. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is performed to study the sorption mechanism at a molecular level and thereby to identify the species of the sorption processes. The 3-D relationship of pH, Ceq and q indicates that all the data of Ceq-q lie in a straight line with slope -V/m and intercept C0V/m for the same initial concentration of Pb(II) and same content of oxidized MWCNTs of each experimental data.