The development of efficient materials and methods for the elimination of heavy metals contamination from water bodies is increasingly demanded as these toxic cations can acute diseases to humans or make serious threat to the environment. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the organosilane coupling agent for the modification of hydrous manganese oxide and the application of the functionalized nanoadsorbent for the removal of nickel and copper ions from synthetic wastewater samples. The synthesized thiol-functionalized hydrous manganese oxide was characterized in terms of their morphology, surface area, functional groups, surface elemental compositions, and the structural properties. In the adsorption process of Ni(II) and Cu(II), the effective parameters including the initial metal cation concentration (20–150 mg/L), operation temperature (298–318 K), and the contact time at the optimum pH were investigated. The uptake of Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions on the prepared adsorbents followed by the Freundlich isotherm model reveals the heterogeneous adsorption, with the adsorption capacities of 24.96 mg/g and 31.2 mg/g for the modified adsorbent and 23.92 mg/g and 29.6 mg/g for the virgin adsorbent, respectively. Based on the results, both the virgin and the functionalized adsorbents exhibited high affinity to copper ions than nickel in the single-component system. Kinetic experiments of both metal ions clarified that the experimental data was well predicted by pseudo-second-order model and the equilibrium was achieved after 10 min of contact time. Additionally, the incorporation of the as-prepared adsorbents in the electrospun nanofibers membrane matrix showed the promising potential for the removal of metal cations. The nickel and copper removal efficiency by the membranes containing 1.5 wt% of the modified adsorbent was 80% and 89%, respectively which implying that the modified adsorbent could be employed more efficiently in other treatment techniques for the removal of metallic pollutants. The modification of hydrous manganese oxide by the functional mercaptosilane increases the adsorption sites for trapping the metal ions and improves the adsorption capacity, making high capability for the removal of metal ions from the effluent.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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巯基官能化的水合氧化锰通过吸附和膜分离增强合成废水中重金属离子去除的新策略

越来越需要开发有效的材料和方法来消除水体中的重金属污染，因为这些有毒阳离子会对人类造成急性疾病或对环境造成严重威胁。本研究的目的是评估有机硅烷偶联剂对水合氧化锰改性的有效性以及功能化纳米吸附剂在去除合成废水样品中的镍和铜离子中的应用。合成的硫醇官能化水合锰氧化物的特征在于它们的形态、表面积、官能团、表面元素组成和结构特性。在Ni(II)和Cu(II)的吸附过程中，有效参数包括初始金属阳离子浓度（20-150 mg/L），研究了操作温度 (298–318 K) 和最佳 pH 值下的接触时间。所制备的吸附剂对 Ni(II) 和 Cu(II) 离子的吸收以及 Freundlich 等温线模型揭示了非均相吸附，改性吸附剂的吸附容量为 24.96 mg/g 和 31.2 mg/g，23.92 mg/g g 和 29.6 mg/g 的原始吸附剂。根据结果​​，在单组分系统中，原始吸附剂和功能化吸附剂对铜离子的亲和力均高于镍。两种金属离子的动力学实验表明，实验数据很好地预测了伪二阶模型，并且在接触时间 10 分钟后达到了平衡。此外，在电纺纳米纤维膜基质中加入所制备的吸附剂显示出去除金属阳离子的潜力。含有 1.5 wt% 改性吸附剂的膜的镍和铜去除效率分别为 80% 和 89%，这意味着改性吸附剂可以更有效地用于其他处理技术来去除金属污染物。功能性巯基硅烷对水合氧化锰的改性增加了捕获金属离子的吸附位点，提高了吸附能力，使出水中金属离子的去除能力强。分别意味着改性吸附剂可以更有效地用于去除金属污染物的其他处理技术。功能性巯基硅烷对水合氧化锰的改性增加了捕获金属离子的吸附位点，提高了吸附能力，使出水中金属离子的去除能力强。分别意味着改性吸附剂可以更有效地用于去除金属污染物的其他处理技术。功能性巯基硅烷对水合氧化锰的改性增加了捕获金属离子的吸附位点，提高了吸附能力，使出水中金属离子的去除能力强。

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