Biosorption of selected heavy metals on wild thyme to prepare antibacterial agents

Abstract The presented study proposes a new potential biosorbent- Thymus serpyllum L. (wild thyme) plant, which showed to be highly efficient in rapid adsorption of Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions. Apart from biochars, that are commonly used for adsorption, here we report the direct use of native plant. The highest adsorption capacity for Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions (qe = 12.66 and 53.13 mg g-1, respectively) was achieved after 10 and 30 minutes, respectively. The combination of characterization methods (SEM/EDX, TGA, FT-IR, XPS and ζ-potential measurements) confirmed the combined adsorption mechanism consisting of the ion exchange at the lower Cu(II) and Pb(II) concentrations and the complexation and chelation at higher concentrations. Moreover, the Cu-laden plant has been shown to be an efficient antibacterial agent against the bacteria E. coli and S. aureus. Thus, the sustainable resource can be used both to treat wastewater and be used in the fight against microbes afterwards.