Experimental investigation on enhancing aqueous cadmium removal via nanostructure composite of modified hexagonal type mesoporous silica with polyaniline/polypyrrole nanoparticles

A composite of polyaniline/polypyrrole/hexagonal type mesoporous silica (PANI/PPy/HMS) was prepared, characterized by FE–SEM, FT-IR, XRD, TGA and BET analysis and applied in investigation of its adsorption characteristics for the removal of Cd(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Batch mode experiments were conducted and four kinetic models were used to describe the adsorption process. The adsorption kinetics results showed that the adsorbent had high affinity to Cd(II) in aqueous solutions, and the adsorption reached equilibrium within 8 min. The experimental data were fitted very well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The equilibrium adsorption data were best fitted with the Freundlich isotherm.