Facile synthesis of novel hexagonal strontium ferrites for promising adsorption of cadmium from aqueous solutions

Cadmium (Cd(II)) contamination in both the surface and ground water is threatening the lives of millions of people across the world. In this work, we have hydrothermally synthesized the novel multiphase (MP) and single phase (SP) M-type hexagonal strontium ferrites (SF, SrFe12O19) for removing Cd(II) from contaminated water. The as-synthesized materials were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS). The MP-SF and SP-SF demonstrated excellent Cd(II) adsorption capacities over wide pH range. The pseudo-first and second-order kinetics models as well as the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms models were used for fitting the experimental data for adsorption of Cd(II) on both the MP-SF and SP-SF. The maximum adsorption capacities reached to 57.5 and 78.9 mg/g for the MP-SF and SP-SF, respectively, at pH 7, which were better than many recently reported magnetic adsorbents. The effects of common co-existing ions on the adsorption capacities of both the MP-SF and SP-SF were also evaluated. FTIR and XPS spectroscopic analyses further confirmed that Cd(II) was adsorbed on to the surface of SP-SF through the formation of an inner-sphere complex between the Cd(II) and surface metal centers.Furthermore, the as-synthesized materials were employed for the treatment of simulated real Cd(II) contaminated water. The experimental results suggested that the SP-SF could be a strong candidate for practical applications of Cd(II) removal from aqueous solutions.