Chemical reactive features of novel amino acids intercalated layered double hydroxides in As(III) and As(V) adsorption

- Detoxification physiology inspires new LDHs adsorbent for arsenic removal.
- Amino acids intercalated LDHs are excellent, stable and specific for As(III).
- The maximum adsorption capacity of Zn2Al-Met-LDH for As(III) is 94.1 mg/g at 298 K.
- Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-2nd-order model fit the adsorption process well.
- Hydrogen bond and chelation with S are main adsorption mechanisms for Met-LDHs.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) intercalated with amino acids such as methionine (Met) were synthesized as new adsorbents to remediate arsenic-polluted water. This Zn2Al-Met-LDHs, identified with the formula of Zn0.7Al0.3(OH)2(Met)0.3·0.32H2O, has good thermal stability. Adsorption experiments with Zn2Al-Met-LDHs showed that the residual arsenic in solution could be reduced below the regulation limit, and this adsorption process fitted Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetics well. A remarkably high removal efficiency and the maximum adsorption capacity for As(III) were achieved, 96.7% and 94.1 mg/g, respectively, at 298 K. The desorption efficiency of As(III) from the arsenic-saturated Zn2Al-Met-LDHs (<8.7%), far less than that of As(V), promises a specific and reliable uptake of As(III) in sorts of solutions. More importantly, a complete and in-depth spectra analysis through FTIR, XPS and NMR was conducted to explain the excellent performance of Zn2Al-Met-LDHs in arsenic removal. Herein, two special chemical reactions were proposed as the dominant mechanisms, i.e., hydrogen bonding between the carboxyl group of the host Met and the hydroxyl group of As(III) or As(V), and the formation of a chelate ring between the guest As(III) and the S, N bidentate ligands of the intercalated Met in the LDHs.

268