Fast removal of copper ions from aqueous solution using an eco-friendly fibrous adsorbent

Functional PET fiber (PET-AA-CS) was prepared by oxygen-plasma pretreatment and grafting of acrylic acid (AA) and low-molecular-weight chitosan (LMCS) on the polyethylene glycol terephthalate (PET) substrate. This adsorbent was targeted for quick removal of metal ion in river pollutions with an easy recycling of the fiber after emergency processing. The fabricated PET-AA-CS was characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), contact angle, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to look into its morphology, surface functional groups, and adsorption mechanism of copper ions from the aqueous solution. The overall adsorption process of copper ions on the PET-AA-CS was pH-dependent with an optimal pH value of 5.0, at which a maximum capacity of 68.97 mg g−1 was obtained. The result of fitting also shows that adsorption process follows the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model. Moreover, the material shows good stability during 5 cycles of adsorption and desorption, and also shows no significant effect of co-existing ions including Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl−, and et al. In general, PET-AA-CS developed in this study shows significant benefit of eco-friend and cost-efficiency for fast removal of copper ions in potential river metal pollutions comparing with traditional adsorbents.