Mechanisms of Lead Adsorption onto Keratin Nanoparticles from Human Hair and Sheep Fur Using Statistical Physics Analysis
Abstract
Abstract Heavy metal contamination of aquatic systems poses serious environmental and public health challenges due to the persistence, toxicity, and bioaccumulative nature of metal ions. This study investigated the adsorption performance of novel human hair nanoparticles (HHNP) and sheep fur nanoparticles (SFNP) for Pb²⁺ removal from aqueous solutions, with emphasis on adsorption thermodynamics and mechanism. The keratin-based nanoparticles were prepared from waste biomaterials and characterized using physicochemical analyses, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of operational parameters, while kinetic, thermodynamic, isotherm, and statistical physics models were employed to elucidate the adsorption mechanism. The results showed that both adsorbents possessed favourable physicochemical properties, including low moisture content, high organic matter content, and abundant functional groups suitable for metal binding. Adsorption kinetics were best described by the pseudo-second-order model (R² > 0.999), indicating chemisorption as the dominant rate-controlling mechanism. Thermodynamic analysis revealed positive enthalpy values and increasingly negative Gibbs free energy values, confirming that adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous. FTIR and SEM analyses demonstrated the participation of amino, carboxyl, hydroxyl, amide, and sulphur-containing groups in…
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