Development of MXene for removal of lead (Pb+) ions from wastewater

A new family of 2D materials with enhanced properties than graphene plays a crucial role in environmental remediation and sustainability. The concentration of heavy metal ions in wastewater is an emerging issue in the global scenario. Heavy metals such as lead, chromium, cadmium, etc. are natural carcinogens and adversely affect environmental species, which tend to have potential activities on the surface of the new families. Lead poisoning is a very raising issue in some parts of India and is a major effluent disposed of to the waterbodies from various industrial streams. The removal of the lead components is studied in this research using adsorption experimentation using MXene as the surface-active adsorbent. The possible mechanism for lead removal from wastewater is also discussed, as well as the effective regeneration and reusability of the adsorbent over long adsorption cycles. MXenes were applied after the confirmation using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and zeta-potential. The induced coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy confirms the lead remediation by over 96% in the first adsorption cycle, which was then reduced to over 92% in the second adsorption cycle. The lead contamination was under the permissible limits as per the water standards.