Bioinspired synthesis of hierarchically micro/nano-structured CuI tetrahedron and its potential application as adsorbent for Cd(II) with high removal capacity.

An environment friendly bioinspired strategy for synthesizing hierarchically micro/nano-structured CuI tetrahedron has been developed by combining the stabilization and the reduction performances of l-tryptophan together. A possible growth mechanism of such hierarchical tetrahedron is tentatively proposed. Remarkably, such CuI tetrahedron is found to possess high removal capacity for poisonous Cd(II) ions, 136.3mg/g, and ideal reusability. This is ascribed to the hierarchical micro/nano-structure and chemical adsorption mechanism, which shows great advantages over the traditional nano-scaled adsorbents. These interesting results stand out the promising applications of such hierarchically micro/nano-structured materials in environment. It is also a good example for the organic combination of green chemistry and nanotechnologies for the treatment of contaminated water.