Mesoporous Ag-functionalized magnetic activated carbon-based agro-waste for efficient removal of Pb(II), Cd(II), and microorganisms from wastewater.

Herein, eco-friendly mesoporous magnetic activated carbon-based agro-waste nanosorbents incorporating antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC1-Ag) have been prepared. Various techniques (XRD, SEM/EDX, TEM, FTIR, and BET analysis) were employed to characterize the prepared nanosorbents before being utilized as novel nanosorbents to remove Pb and Cd ions. Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC1-Ag exhibited rapid and excellent uptake of Pb and Cd. The pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm are more suitable for the explanation of the experimental results. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the Pb and Cd sorption by the nanosorbents was a spontaneous and endothermic reaction. The prepared nanosorbents can be effectively regenerated using HCl and recycled up to the fifth cycle. These nanosorbents' potential uses for eliminating Pb and Cd from real water samples were evaluated. Moreover, the results revealed that both Mag@AC1-Ag and Mag@AC2-Ag exhibited high antimicrobial activity against fecal coliform (gram-negative) and Bacillus subtilis (gram-positive).