Preparation of MgAl-EDTA-LDH based electrospun nanofiber membrane and its adsorption properties of copper(II) from wastewater

[Display omitted] •EDTA intercalated-LDH/PAN electrospun nanofiber membrane was synthesized for Cu(II) removal.•The electrospun nanofiber membranecan prevent adsorbents from loss and aggregation.•The mechanisms for the Cu(II) removal was illuminated.•The adsorption of Cu(II) was well described by a pseudo second-order kinetic equation.•The removal of Cu(II) followed a Langmuir-type adsorption. Adsorption is recognized as one of the most promising technologies applied to remove heavy metals from contaminated water. However, the adsorption efficiency often decreases because of the aggregation and loss of adsorbents. Herein, a novel adsorbent was synthesized by intercalation ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) into layered double hydroxides (LDH) and subsequent encapsulated into PAN polymer matrix using electrospinning. The synthesized electrospun nanofiber membrane (MgAl-EDTA-LDH@PAN) was found to combine the advantages of LDH@PAN nanofiber membrane (high surface area, easy to separate, free from aggregation and loss) and EDTA (powerful chelating agent). The adsorption performance of the MgAl-EDTA-LDH@PAN was evaluated using Cu(II) as target metals by varying experimental conditions such as pH, contact time, initial adsorbent dosage, and temperature. The maximum adsorption capacity of MgAl-EDTA-LDH@PAN was 120.77mg/g with the initial Cu(II) concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 40mg/L. MgAl-EDTA-LDH@PAN was also used in real industrial contaminated water treatment, and the final effluent was approximate to class-I criteria of the National Wastewater Discharge Standard of China. (GB 8978-1996). In addition, Cu K-edge XAS and XPS analyses were applied for unraveling the adsorptive performance of MgAl-EDTA-LDH@PAN by revealing the molecular-level mechanism of Cu(II) uptake.