Abstract
Removing toxic metal ions arising from contaminated wastewaters caused by industrial effluents with a cost-effective method tackles a serious concern worldwide. The adsorption process onto metal oxide and carbon-based materials offers one of the most efficient technologies adopted for metal ion removal. In this study, mesoporous MgO/g-C
3
N
4
sorbent is fabricated by ultrasonication method for the uptake Pb (II) and Cd (II) heavy metal ions from an aqueous solution. The optimum conditions for maximum uptake: initial concentration of metal ions 250 mg g
−1
, pH = 5 and pH = 3 for Pb
++
and Cd
++
, and a 60 mg dose of adsorbent. In less than 50 min, the equilibrium is reached with a good adsorption capacity of 114 and 90 mg g
−1
corresponding to Pb
++
and Cd
++
, respectively. Moreover, the adsorption isotherm models fit well with the Langmuir isotherm, while the kinetics model fitting study manifest a perfect fit with the pseudo-second order. The as fabricated mesoporous MgO/g-C
3
N
4
sorbent exhibit excellent Pb
++
and Cd
++
ions uptake and can be utilized as a potential adsorbent in wastewater purification.