M. Sharma^a, J. Singh^a, S. Hazra^b and S. Basu^a
aSchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thapar University, Patiala 147004, India
^bSaha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata 700064, India

The synthesis of most promising and robust adsorbents to purify water has been fostered as a great interest in the most promising fields. Many adsorbents based on carbon material have been studied worldwide due to the high surface area, high chemical stability, compact structure and appropriate for bulk production. Here, carbon monoliths (CM) with micro/mesopore have been synthesized via nanocasting method, using silica monoliths as a solid template. On the micrometer scale, synthesized CMs are considered as a positive replica of parent silica monoliths. CMs with the high surface area (1103 m²/g) is tested first time as an adsorbent for effective removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions from aqueous solution. Also, through batch experiments various effective and applicable parameters were successfully studied for instance pH, contact time, adsorbate/adsorbent concentration, temperature etc. The maximum monolayer adsorption efficiency for Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions is 1128 mg/g and 989 mg/g, respectively. Kinetic data for the adsorption process shows best fit to pseudo-second order. Due to solid rock-like structure, carbon monoliths can be reusable and befitted as highly effective and economical adsorbent for heavy metal ion adsorption process as compared to other adsorbents known in literature like SiO₂, TiO₂, MnO₂, ZnO and activated carbon.