Mesoporous Ag-functionalized magnetic activated carbon-based agro-waste for efficient removal of Pb(II), Cd(II), and microorganisms from wastewater

Herein, eco-friendly mesoporous magnetic activated carbon-based agro-waste nanosorbents incorporating antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC1-Ag) have been prepared. Various techniques (XRD, SEM/EDX, TEM, FTIR, and BET analysis) were employed to characterize the prepared nanosorbents before being utilized as novel nanosorbents to remove Pb(+2) and Cd(+2) ions. Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC1-Ag exhibited rapid and excellent uptake of Pb(+2) and Cd(+2). The pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm are more suitable for the explanation of the experimental results. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the Pb(+2) and Cd(+2) sorption by the nanosorbents was a spontaneous and endothermic reaction. The prepared nanosorbents can be effectively regenerated using HCl and recycled up to the fifth cycle. These nanosorbents’ potential uses for eliminating Pb(+2) and Cd(+2) from real water samples were evaluated. Moreover, the results revealed that both Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC2-Ag exhibited high antimicrobial activity against fecal coliform (gram-negative) and Bacillus subtilis (gram-positive). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-023-26000-w.