Abstract

This work provides a novel approach to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) coated on a cerium oxide nanorods nanocomposite (N-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC) for the uptake of cadmium (Cd2+) ion and reusing the spent adsorbent, Cd2+-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC for latent fingerprint detection (LFP). N-CNPs were prepared by a thermal method with urea and cabbage powder as precursors. N-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC was developed with N-CNPs and CeO2NRs with a hydrothermal method and characterized by various instrument methods like UV-visible, FT-IR, XRD, BET, XPS, SEM, and TEM. The N-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC had a greater surface area (9.96 m2/g) than N-CNPs (0.64 m2/g). The synthesized N-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC proved to be a good sorbent material to remove Cd2+ from water at a maximum pH 8 and dosage 10 mg/L. The adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic at 25 ºC. In addition, Cd2+-N-CNPs/CeO2NRsnC has shown to be sensitive and selective for LFP identification on several porous substrates. It is therefore a good labeling agent for latent fingerprint identification in forensic science.