Magnetite-induced topological transformation of 3D hierarchical MgAl layered double hydroxides to highly dispersed 2D magnetic hetero-nanosheets for effective removal of cadmium ions from aqueous solutions

The study shows the synthesis of highly dispersed magnetic hetero-nanosheets through topological transformation of 3D Hierarchical MgAl layered double hydroxides in the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The platelet-like hierarchical nano-heterostructures consisted of 10 nm Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles dispersed over the surface of MgAl-LDH lamella. The as-prepared biphasic self-assembled nanocomposite was successfully used as an adsorbent for decontamination of spiked cadmium wastewater at room temperature. A comprehensive physico-chemical characterization of structural and textural features, as well as the magnetic properties of the prepared nanocomposites were carried out by using complementary techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and Zeta potential respectively. Moreover, the influences of certain parameters including pH, adsorbent dosage, initial cadmium concentration, and contact time were extensively studied in terms of profiling the adsorption capacity of the hierarchical nano-heterostructures. Different adsorption isotherm (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Redlich-Peterson) in linear and nonlinear forms were applied. According to the results, Freundlich and