In-Situ Fixation of All-Inorganic Mo–Fe–S Clusters for the Highly Selective Removal of Lead(II)

Abstract

The selective adsorption by suitable substrate materials is considered one of the most economical methods. In this work, an all-inorganic bimetallic Mo-Fe-S cluster is facilely achieved through in situ chemical fixation of tetrathiomolybdate (TTM) on Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) at room temperature (donated as FeMoS NPs). The bimetallic building blocks on the obtained FeMoS NPs possess a monovacancy species of sulfur, endowing FeMoS NPs with a selectivity order of Zn²⁺, Mn²⁺, Ni²⁺ < Cd²⁺ ≪ Cu²⁺ < Pb²⁺ for metal-ion adsorption, a novel application for the Mo-Fe-S clusters. Particularly, with the highest selectivity for Pb²⁺ (K_d ≈ 10⁷), which is about 3 × 10³-1 × 10⁶ times higher than those for other ions and has exceeded that of a series of outstanding sorbents reported for Pb²⁺, FeMoS NPs can efficiently reduce the concentration of Pb²⁺ from ∼10 ppm to an extremely low level of ∼1 ppb. This facile and rational fabrication of the Mo-Fe-S cluster with Fe₃O₄ represents a feasible approach to cheaply develop novel and efficient materials for the selective removal of lead(II).