Preparation of cellulose derived from corn stalk and its application for cadmium ion adsorption from aqueous solution

Cellulose was isolated from corn stalk and modified by graft copolymerization to produce an absorbent material (AGCS-cell), which was characterized by scanning electron microscope and energy disperse spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and solid-state CP/MAS 13C NMR. The results showed that AGCS-cell had better adsorption potential for cadmium ion than unmodified cellulose because of the addition of functional groups (CN and OH groups) and the lower crystallinity. The Langmuir isotherms gave the best fit to the data and gave an adsorption capacity was 21.37 mg g−1, which was close to unpurified cellulose (AGCS) and reflected the feasibility of using AGCS-cell as an adsorbent to remove cadmium ions.