In this study, a redox precipitation method was used to load manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ) nanoparticles on biochar (BC) (BC@MnO 2 ) pyrolyzed from the invasive water hyacinth, and the adsorption of Cd(II),Cu(II), Zn(II), and Pb(II) was investigated. Several techniques were used to characterize the adsorbents. The results revealed that the BC surface was covered by many intertwined thin amorphous MnO 2 nanosheets, which significantly increased its specific surface area and pore volume. The adsorption of heavy metal ions by BC was negligible, whereas the MnO 2 -containing adsorbents exhibited a high capacity for adsorbing heavy metal ions. However, the MnO 2 -normalized adsorption amount decreased with increasing MnO 2 load and was largely unchanged at MnO 2 loads of 26.6% to 30.2%. The capacity for adsorbing heavy metal ions of BC@MnO 2 was pH-dependent, but the adsorption affinity was unaffected by coexisting ions. Column tests revealed that BC@MnO 2 with a load of 26.6% had a high capacity for removing heavy metal ions from simulated and real electroplating wastewater. Therefore, BC@MnO 2 with a load of 26.6% shows promise as a regenerable adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions from water/wastewater. This study could lay an essential foundation to develop a win-win strategy for heavy metal ions removal from wastewater using biochar derived from water hyacinth. open Scientific RepoRtS | (2020) 10:6067 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63000-z www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ dispersibility and adsorption. Nanosized MnO 2 loaded on materials with a high specific surface area-such as graphene oxide 11 , ordered mesoporous silica 15 , and ordered mesoporous carbon materials 16 exhibited higher performance in energy storage, catalysis, and adsorption than aggregated nanosized MnO 2 . However, materials with large specific surface areas are costly and difficult to manufacture, which restricts their large-scale preparation and application. Hence, the loading of nanosized MnO 2 onto low-cost supporting materials with large specific surface areas shows promise.Biochar (BC) is produced via pyrolysis of organic feedstocks at <700 °C under oxygen-limited conditions. Unfortunately, blank BC often exhibits relatively low adsorption efficiency for heavy metal ions 4,17 . However, due to its abundant surface functional groups, availability, and low cost, BC is suitable for hosting metal oxides for adsorption and catalysis applications 7 . For example, metal hydroxides such as Fe-Mn binary oxides 18 , iron oxides 19,20 , aluminum oxides 21,22 , and silicon 23 have been introduced to the inner and outer surfaces of BC. Sun et al. 24 , Qiu et al. 25 , and Li et al. 26 studied the application of MnO 2 -loaded BC for removing Pb(II), Cd(II), and fluoroquinolone antibiotics, respectively. Prior studies have focused on the preparation and adsorption performance of MnO 2 -loaded BC. However, the means of enhancing MnO 2 loading and reactions among BC, MnO 2 , and target contaminants have been overlo...