Mechanism of Cd(II) and Cu(II) Adsorption onto Few-Layered Magnetic Graphene Oxide as an Efficient Adsorbent

[Image: see text] Heavy metal contamination caused by industrial discharge is a challenging environmental issue. Herein, an efficient adsorbent based on few-layered magnetic graphene oxide (FLMGO) was fabricated, characterized, and utilized to remove aqueous Cd(II) and Cu(II). Results present that the two components graphene oxide (GO) and Fe(3)O(4) of FLMGO promote mutually, enabling FLMGO to outperform either GO or Fe(3)O(4). Specifically, FLMGO adsorbs Cd(II) and Cu(II) with adsorption quantities of 401.14 and 1114.22 mg·g(–1) in 5 and 7 min, respectively. Moreover, FLMGO can be readily recovered via magnetic separation using a hand-held magnet. Adsorptions are spontaneous, endothermic, and entropy increasing, which are the best described by the Freundlich and pseudo-second-order model. The interaction mechanism is as follows: lone pair electrons in C=O- and C–O-related groups were coordinated toward Cd(II) and Cu(II) to induce chemical interaction. The high adsorption efficiency endows FLMGO with encouraging application potential in heavy metal remediation.