Screening of sorption conditions of Cd2+ ions by cerium (IV) hydrogenphosphate from aqueous solutions

The presence of cadmium in the environment requires attention, due to its carcinogenic and bioaccumulative power. To remedy water bodies contaminated with trace metal, different materials are reported in the literature. This work describes a method able to remove 10–25% of Cd2+ from aqueous solutions in a single batch using layered and cationic exchanger cerium hydrogenphosphate (CeP) material. In the present study, this material was obtained in three forms after hydrothermal treatment for 4 h, 16 h and 24 h. Powder X-rays diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR) and thermogravimetric analysis evidenced that CeP 24 h had a surface-like sorption in contrast to CeP 4 h. SEM visualizations showed a much pronounced fibrillar morphology for CeP 24 h. Also, we studied the Cd sorption mode by each material either applying agitation (dynamic) or not (static). Considering all this, the best results were obtained for Cd adsorption using CeP 24 h in dynamic mode according to ion adsorption capacity% values calculated from atomic absorption data. This is in contrast to data in the literature that mostly applies CeP 4 h as the metal ion sorptive material.