Cost-Effective Preparation of Gold Tailing-Based Aerogels for Efficient Adsorption of Copper Ions from Wastewater

Water pollution caused by heavy metal ions has attracted worldwide attention. In this work, gold tailings were used as raw materials and the sol–gel method combined with atmospheric pressure drying to achieve low-cost preparation of a silica aerogel. (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-2Na), chitosan modify aerogel, which was then an adsorbent for adsorption copper in wastewater. The type, time, ion concentration, pH value investigated variables explore best conditions. mechanism also elaborated on. crystal structure, surface morphology, functional groups, chemical composition, specific area aerogels modified characterized various physiochemical characterizations such XRD, SEM, FT-IR, XRF, BET. results showed that prepared aerogel contained 91.1% SiO2, mainly amorphous amino carboxyl groups. Other groups successfully grafted onto aerogels. original had large area, total pore volume, diameter. When adsorbed chitosan-modified aerogels, capacity highest (33.51 mg/g) under conditions concentration 100 mg/L, 7, time 2 h. Cu2+ due exchange electrostatic gravity.