High efficient and selective removal of Pb through formation of lead molybdate on α-MoO porous nanosheets array.

2D hand-like structured α-MoO porous nanosheets were grown in-situ onto a capillary by a simple hydrothermal route, on which titanium dioxide seed layer was sol-dip-coated in advance. The α-MoO porous nanosheets array exhibits an exceptional lead ion uptake capacity up to 1450.0mg·g, and can effectively reduce Pb concentration from 20mg·L to a low level of smaller than 3μg·L, well below the acceptable limits in drinking water standards (10μg·L) and can efficiently remove 99.9% lead ion within a few minutes at room temperature. Furthermore, α-MoO porous nanosheets array also has high selectivity toward Pb better than Cu, Zn, Cr and Cd. The mechanism for adsorption was discussed according to the results of Zeta potential, IR, XPS and XRD analyses. The excellent removal performance of the array to Pb is resulted from the electrostatic adsorption interaction and the formation of new species lead molybdate.