Synthesis of stable flowerlike MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A and its adsorption performance for fluoride

MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A as an effective adsorbent was successfully prepared by a simple stirring method in water bath through loading MIL-88A onto the surface of flowerlike MgAl-LDH, which was synthesized via solvothermal method. Interestingly, the results of characterizations showed that the MIL-88A could still grow, but extrude the brucite-like layers of MgAl-LDH. The influences of initial solution pH, contact time, temperature, and co-existing ions on the adsorption performance of MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A were studied systematically by batch static adsorption experiments. It was found that MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A represented the highest adsorption loading of fluoride (14.00 mg g−1) at initial pH 7.0 in 420 min. The uptake process was described appropriately by the pseudo-second-order, the Temkin and the Freundlich isotherm models. The thermodynamic parameters confirmed the endothermic and spontaneous nature of adsorption. MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A was the green adsorbent as the residual mental contents ([Mg2+] = 1.095 mg L−1, [Fe3+] = 0.007 mg L−1, [Al3+] = 0.076 mg L−1) after adsorption met the Chinese sanitary standard for drinking water (GB 5749-2006). The mechanism of fluoride removal by MgAl-LDH@MIL-88A involved the electrostatic interactions between Fe3+ of MIL-88A and fluoride, and ligand exchange among hydroxyl groups of MgAl-LDH, carboxylate groups of the C4H4O4 and fluoride.