Adsorption behavior of Au(III) and Pd(II) on persimmon tannin functionalized viscose fiber and the mechanism

A novel bio-adsorbent (DAVF-PT) was prepared by the introduction of persimmon tannin (PT) on the surface of viscose fiber (VF) through condensation reaction. The adsorbent was applied to the adsorption of Au(III) and Pd(II) from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption experiment found that the adsorption performance of DAVF-PT for Au(III) and Pd(II) was closely related to pH of solution, initial metal ion concentration as well as co-existing metal ions. The adsorption isotherms data of Au(III) and Pd(II) on DAVF-PT could be best explained by the Langmuir equation, and the fitted maximum adsorption amounts for Au(III) and Pd(II) were 535 mg/g and 214 mg/g, much higher than those similar adsorbents reported in the literatures. The thermodynamic study revealed that adsorption reaction was an endothermic, spontaneous and entropy increase process. Furthermore, the kinetics data of Au(III) and Pd(II) adsorption on DAVF-PT obeyed the Pseudo-second-order equation, indicating that the chemical adsorption was the mainly rate-limiting step. The EDS, XPS and XPD analysis confirmed that the gold and palladium ions were reduced to metallic state following adsorption, while the phenolic group was simultaneously converted into quinone group, indicating the potential use of this novel fiber-based adsorbent in the recovery of precious metal ions from wastewater.