Removal of heavy metals from drinking water sources and rivers is of strategic health importance and is essential for sustainable ecosystem development, in particular in polluted areas around the globe. In this work, new hybrid inorganic-organic material adsorbents made of ortho- (Si-o-OR) or para-Schiff base silica (Si-p-OR) were synthesized and characterized in depth. These hybrid adsorbents show a high selectivity to Cu(II), even in the presence of competing heavy metals (Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II)), and also demonstrate great reusability after five adsorption-desorption cycles. Maximum sorption capacity for Cu(II) was found for Si-o-OR (79.36 mg g-1) and Si-p-OR (36.20 mg g-1) in no less than 25 min. Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy studies demonstrate that this uptake occurs due to a chelating effect, which allows these adsorbents to trap Cu(II) ions on their surfaces; this result is supported by a theoretical study for Si-o-OR. The new adsorbents were tested against real water samples extracted from two rivers from the Oriental region of Morocco.
Keywords: DFT; environment; heavy metal pollution; hybrid materials; water cleaning technologies.