The deconstruction and recombination of endogenous active units of carbon@chitosan@montmorillonite nanosheet microsphere adsorbent caused by cadmium and copper cations benefit for high adsorption performance.

The highly efficient removal of heavy metals is one of the important factors to evaluate adsorbents. In our study, carbon@chitosan@montmorillonite nanosheet (C@CS@MTN) was successfully prepared via layer-by-layer assembly for the removal of Cu and Cd from solution. High-intensity ultrasound peeling technology was used to release Si-O tetrahedron and Al-O octahedron from montmorillonite in order to exert their optimal adsorption potential. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, an X-ray diffractometer, BET surface area measurement, and the inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry were adopted to investigate the morphology, functional groups, and adsorption capacity of C@CS@MTN. Batch experiment results indicated that both Cu and Cd were effectively removed from solution with the range of pH from 2 to 6. The removal ratio of Cu and Cd onto C@CS@MTN increased with the rise of reaction temperature and their maximum adsorption capacities reached 1108.8 mg·g and 237.4 mg·g, respectively, under the condition of the reaction temperature 40 °C, the reaction time 4 h, and the pH = 6. The molecular simulation calculation indicated that there was an obvious electron transfer between Si-O tetrahedron and metal cations, but not for Al-O octahedron. In comparison to Al-O octahedron, the bonding of Cu-O and Cd-O caused the Si-O bond to be broken, resulting in the deconstruction of Si-O tetrahedron and their recombination via the junction of O atoms. It was exactly the deconstruction and recombination of endogenous active units that provide more sites for metal ion adsorption.