Adsorption and recycling of Cd(II) from wastewater using straw cellulose hydrogel beads

Abstract Environment-friendly straw cellulose hydrogel beads (SCHBs) were applied for Cd(II) recovery and recycling from solution. The SCHBs presented good adsorption capacity for Cd(II) of 95.62 mg/g at 313.5 K. These Cd(II) loaded SCHBs were recycled for CdS in-situ synthesis and employed as photocatalyst in the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. Both TEM and SEM images confirmed that the recycled CdS nanoparticles within SCHBs are smaller than 20 nm in size, and XRD patterns were consistent with the metallic crystallinity of CdS. The recycled SCHBs-CdS composites exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation ability and reusability.