Development of highly cost-effective, highly operation-convenient and highly efficient natural polymer-based adsorbents for their biodegradability and biocompatibility, and supply of safe drinking water are the most threatening problems in water treatment field. To tackle the challenges, a new kind of efficient recyclable magnetic chitosan/cellulose hybrid microspheres was prepared by sol-gel method. By embedding magnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles in chitosan/cellulose matrix drops in NaOH/urea aqueous solution, it combined renewability and biocompatibility of chitosan and cellulose as well as magnetic properties of γ-Fe2O3 to create a hybrid system in heavy metal ions removal.
Keywords: Adsorption and desorption; Heavy metal ions; Magnetic chitosan/cellulose microspheres; Nanocomposites.
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