Adsorption of heavy metals in water by chitosan-graphene oxide composites

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution poses a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health. The adsorption method has become a mainstream research direction due to its high efficiency and simplicity. The CS-GO material formed by the composite of chitosan and graphene oxide overcomes the defects of single materials through a synergistic effect, significantly improving the adsorption stability and capacity. This paper focuses on CS-GO composites and proposes that static batch experiments can be used to study their adsorption performance, combined with kinetic, isotherm models and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to explore the action mechanism. Studies have shown that its adsorption involves multiple mechanisms such as electrostatic interaction, surface complexation, pore filling and ion exchange, and it has a high adsorption capacity for heavy metals such as Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Cu²⁺, with the synergistic effect enhancing selectivity and stability.This composite material shows application value in fields such as industrial wastewater treatment and drinking water purification, but it faces challenges such as high cost of large-scale preparation, poor adaptability to actual wastewater and insufficient long-term stability. Future research should focus on low-cost preparation, pilot-scale verification and the development of long-term regeneration technologies to promote its transformation from laboratory research to engineering applications.​