Enhanced fluoride removal by La-doped Li/Al layered double hydroxides

In this study La intercalated Li/Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) was developed for efficient water defluoridation. The La-modified material, i.e., La doped Li/Al-LDH, exhibits more preferable fluoride adsorption than Li/Al-LDH in a broad pH range of 5-9, with the working capacity twice of the latter and seven times of magnitude higher than activated alumina. The fluoride removal kinetics is well fitted by pseudo-second order model, and the adsorption isotherm is well described by Freundlich model. Effect of pH and competing ions was examined during fluoride sequestration. The underlying mechanism for such enhanced adsorption of fluoride by La doped Li/Al-LDH was further revealed based on XPS and FTIR analysis. The presence of La and Al was found to be responsible for the satisfactory defluoridation of La doped Li/Al-LDH, and chloride replacement with fluoride occurred from both LDHs during fluoride adsorption. Also, the capacity of La doped Li/Al-LDH could be refreshed by alkaline solution (pH = 12) for cyclic runs. All the results implied that La doped Li/Al-LDH could serve as a potential adsorbent for efficient fluoride removal from water.

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