Sorptive chelation of metals by inorganic functionalized organic WOx–EDA nanowires: adsorbent characterization and isotherm studies

Synthesis and Characterization of Inorganic–organic hybrid Tungsten oxide-ethylenediamine (WOx–EDA) nanowires have been carried out by a simple, low-cost and high-yield solvo-thermal method. The WOx–EDA nanowire adsorbent was characterized using, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Adsorptive potential of the hybrid for aqueous phase copper and lead removal was investigated using batch adsorption process. The equilibrium data were subjected to various isotherm models. The Langmuir model shows high applicability (R² of 0.921) for lead uptake. Other R² values include 0.882 (for Freundlich model), 0.947 (Temkin) and 0.972 (Dubinin- Radushkevich). Similarly, adsorption experimental runs for Cu uptake gave correlation coefficient (R²) values of 0.972, 0.584, 0.906 and 0.899 for the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin- Radushkevich isotherm models respectively. Overall, Tungsten oxide ethylenediamine adsorbent proved its potential candidature for the chelating treatment of Pb and Cu poisoning as well as purifications of water containing such metals.