Heavy metal pollutants from industrial
wastewater pose a great
threat to public health and ecosystem safety. In this paper, a thiol-modified
porous boron nitride (pBN–SH) adsorbent synthesized by a facile
acid-etching method was studied for the highly selective adsorption
of Hg(II) in a complex environment. pBN–SH was characterized
by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, elemental analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy,
Fourier transform infrared, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
The effect of adsorption dosage, pH, contact time, and temperature
on Hg(II) adsorption was comprehensively investigated. Characterized
results show that thiol groups are loaded on the surface of pBN through
oxygen-containing groups and π–π bond. Due to the
abundant structural defects and surface modification of functional
groups, pBN–SH can effectively capture Hg(II) from water. Compared
with the pristine pBN, the adsorption capacity of pBN–SH increases
significantly by nearly 2.1 times, which suggests broad application
prospects of pBN–SH in removing the Hg(II) aspect. Experimental
results corresponding to the pseudo-second-order kinetic, the intra-particle
diffusion model, and the Langmuir isotherm demonstrate that pBN–SH
holds a high potential in environmental remediation. In addition,
the recovered pBN–SH loaded with Hg(II) waste can be available
for a valid catalyst for the conversion of phenylacetylene to acetophenone,
providing a new way for the reuse of Hg(II)-adsorbed materials. Density
functional theory calculations revealed that multitudinous defects
and thiol functional groups on the pBN–SH surface, electrostatic
attraction, and ligand exchange are responsible for the excellent
Hg(II)-selective adsorption capability discovered in the experiment.