Advanced Surface Molecular Engineering of Functional Lanthanum-Based Adsorbents for Phosphate Adsorption Performance

Functional lanthanum-based adsorbents offer a promising strategy for addressing phosphate pollution in wastewater. Herein, porous layered lanthanum hydroxide (P-LHL) nanowire substrates were fabricated via a one-step hydrothermal strategy, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was successfully anchored on the P-LHL surface through surface molecular engineering, yielding the BSA-modified composite (P-LHL@BSA). Modifying the lanthanum-based matrix with BSA not only increases the specific surface area, hydrophilicity, and positive surface charge of the materials but also enhances their affinity for phosphates. The optimized P-LHL@BSA exhibits excellent phosphate adsorption performance with an adsorption capacity of 172.06 mg g-1. The enhanced adsorption performance is attributed to the synergistic interaction between ligand exchange at the lanthanum hydroxide matrix and electrostatic attraction arising from the BSA-modified positively charged surface, which optimizes the internal Helmholtz plane and promotes phosphate adsorption efficiency. Notably, fixed-bed column experiments demonstrated that the breakthrough time of the modified nanowires was extended, while fabrication into a two-dimensional filtration membrane achieved a 100% removal efficiency for low-concentration phosphorus, underscoring the exceptional practicality of this modification approach. This study provides a feasible approach to the development of high-performance modified lanthanum-based adsorbents for phosphate removal and phosphorus resource recovery.