Abstract
dithiocarbamate-graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by simple method through reactions between poly3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane functionalized GO (PAS-GO) and CS
2
. DTC-GO can capture Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
effectively to generate stable structures and then remove them from aqueous solutions. The properties of the DTC-GO are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption capacity for heavy metal ions of DTC-GO was evaluated by the removal of Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
from aqueous solution. The effect of several factors, including the pH, contact time, and temperature, was investigated by batch experiment. The results show that the DTC-GO exhibits excellent adsorption capacity for Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
. The adsorption kinetics study indicates that the adsorption kinetics of Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
all could be well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherm was investigated by Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm models, and the adsorption process was well described by the Langmuir model. The effect of temperature shows that the process of DTC-GO for Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
is an endothermic process. The results indicated that the DTC-GO can be used as one of the promising candidate adsorbents with enhanced removal capacity for the adsorption of Cu
2+
and Cd
2+
.