Document Abstract
The magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were functionalizedwith glycine at pH 6. The glycine functionalized magnetic
nanoparticles (GFMNPS) were then entrapped into alginate polymer as beads and used as adsorbent for the removal
of Pb(II) ions. The developed adsorbents were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
vibrating sample magnetometer and scanning electron microscopic analysis. The surface of beads contain
amino and carboxylate groupswhich make themeffective adsorbents for the removal of Pb(II) ions. The adsorption
of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutionwas found to be highly pH dependent. 92.8% Pb(II)was removed just in
10 min. The kinetic data fittedwellwith pseudo second ordermodel and the equilibriumwas reached in 100 min
with 99.8% removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution. The adsorption isotherm strictly followed Langmuir
model with the maximum adsorption capacity of 555.5 mg/g of the adsorbent. The thermodynamic study confirmed
that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The adsorbent could be regenerated
four times simply by 0.2 M HNO3 retaining 90% of the adsorption capacity. The synthesized adsorbent was
found to be eco-friendly, cost-effective, efficient and superior over other polymer based adsorbents for removal
of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution.