Fluoride ions adsorption from water by CaCO3 enhanced Mn-Fe mixed metal oxides

Novel CaCO3-enhanced Mn–Fe mixed metal oxides (CMFC) were successfully prepared for the first time by a simple-green hydrothermal strategy without any surfactant or template combined with calcination process. These oxides were then employed as an adsorbent for adsorptive removal of excess fluoride ions. The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, XPS, XRD, FTIR, and BET analysis techniques. The adsorption property of CMFC toward fluoride ion was analyzed by batch experiments. In fact, CMFC exhibited adsorption capacity of 227.3 mg∙g−1 toward fluoride ion. Results showed that ion exchange, electrostatic attraction and chemical adsorption were the main mechanism for the adhesion of large amount of fluoride ion on the CMFC surface, and the high adsorption capacity responded to the low pH of the adsorption system. When the fluoride ion concentration was increased from 20 to 200 mg∙L−1, Langmuir model was more in line with experimental results. The change of fluoride ion adsorption with respect to time was accurately described by pseudo-second-order kinetics. After five cycles of use, the adsorbent still maintains a performance of 70.6% of efficiency, compared to the fresh adsorbent. Therefore, this material may act as a potential candidate for adsorbent with broad range of application prospects.