B braunii

P duplex

S paradoxum

Arsenate resistance has been identified in a number of species on arsenic‐contaminated

soils including: Andropogon scoparius (Rocovich & West, 1975), Agrostis castellana, A.
delicatula (De Koe & Jacques, 1993), A. capillaris, Deschampsia cespitosa (Meharg &
Macnair, 1991), H. lanatus (Macnair & Cumbes, 1987), S. vulgaris (Paliouris &
Hutchinson, 1991), Plantago lanceolata (Pollard, 1980), and C. vulgaris (Sharples et  al.,
2000b). In populations of H. lanatus from uncontaminated soils across the UK, approx. 45%
of seeds gave rise to arsenic‐resistant plants (Meharg et  al., 1993), whilst individuals of S.
vulgaris (Paliouris & Hutchinson, 1991) and P. lanceolata (Pollard 1980) from
uncontaminated soils also exhibited resistance to arsenic.

A specific weight (750 mg) of water hyacinth root powder was suspended in 25 ml of tap water
spiked with 200 mg l1 of arsenite [As(III)] or arsenate [As(V)] and adjusted to pH 6. The appropriate
pH of the solution was obtained by addition of either nitric acid (10% v/v) or ammonium hydroxide
(10% v/v). The mixture was shaken for 120 minutes using a flask shaker on a medium setting, at
room temperature. At different time intervals, the roots were removed by filtration (Millipore 0.45
mm pore size membrane filter) to obtain the supernatant solution, which was analysed by GF-AAS.
The results indicated that the chemical interactions as ion-exchange between the hydrogen atoms of
carboxyl (–COOH), hydroxyl (–OH), and amine (–NH) groups of the biomass and the metal ions were
mainly involved in the biosorption of As(III) by U. cylindricum biomass.

Ginger was purchased from Kuala Lumpur market, rinse with distilled water to remove the dirt.
Ginger was then cut into smaller pieces with a sterilized scalpel and blended to obtain the ginger
extract. The extract was then filtered using pore nylon mesh. The filtrate was then centrifuged at
4000 rpm at 25o C. The supernatant (ginger extract) was collected in a 500 ml schott bottle and
stored

250 ml of ferric chloride solution was mixed with 250 ml of ginger extract in a 500 ml beaker. The
mixture solution was heated at 50o C under mild stirring by using magnetic stirrer for 2 h and then
left cool at room temperature. After cooling, the mixture was sending for centrifugation to obtain
the pellets which are the iron oxide nanoparticles. The mixture solutions were centrifuged at 4000
rpm at 10o C for 10 min. The pellets were then washed several times by adding distilled water and
re-centrifuged to obtain final pellets for drying at 80o C inside an oven for overnight. A dried powder
of iron oxide nanoparticles were ground with a mortar and pestle. Then, the powder of iron oxide
nanoparticles were sending for calcine in the furnace at 400o C for 8 h. After calcined, the powder of
iron oxide nanoparticles was further grind by using pestle and mortar to get fine powders. The fine
powders were then collected in plastic bag

All reagents in experiments were used as received without further purification. In typical syntheses,
macroscopic-sized apple, banana and orange peels (Fig. S1, left side) were separately soaked into
200 mL of FeCl3 aqueous solutions (22.5 mmol L-1) 4 at 25 °C for 12h. Afterwards, the color of these
fruit peels changed to brownish black (Fig. S1, right side). These soaked peels were subsequently
rinsed with de-ionized water and absolute ethanol, and finally dried in the air at 60 °C for 4 h. After
that, these peels were separately calcined in the atmosphere of pure nitrogen (99.99%) and
maintained at 600 °C for 1h before furnace cooling. The resultant black powders were washed with
de-ionized water and absolute ethanol, and finally dried in the air at 60 °C for 6h. For convenience's
sake, these products yielded from apple, banana and orange peels were labeled as S1, S2 and S3,
respectively.

2.2. Preparation of Chitosan-Coated Magnetite Particles (Fe 3O4@Chitosan)

The chitosan-coated magnetite particles were prepared by in situ

coprecipitation of iron salts in a polymer template. An amount of 3.6 × 
10−3 moles of iron from a mixture in a molar ratio 2 : 1 (Fe 3+ : Fe2+) of ferric
nitrate and ferrous sulfate added with varying amounts of chitosan (0.5 to
1.5% ) was mixed at 100 rpm in 3% () acetic acid at 70°C. The solid
content remained constant by adjusting solution volume. The chitosan-
iron solution was dispersed by an ultrasonic processor (70% amplitude,
VC505, Sonics & Materials, Newtown, CT, USA) at different times (3 to 10 
min) to promote better distribution of compounds. Thereafter, the
generated chitosan-iron solution was precipitated by adding a solution of
20% () NaOH : 96% () ethanol in 4 : 1 volume ratio. Subsequently, the
alkaline mixture was homogenized using a vortex for 30 s and then was
kept under gentle shaking (60 rpm) for 18 h. The precipitate was
recovered by centrifugation for 5 min at 7000 ×g (Eppendorf, Mod. 5804R,
Hamburg, Germany) and washed with a mixture of 50 mM phosphate
buffer pH 7.0 and 96% () ethanol in 1 : 1 volume ratio, until neutralization.
The neutralized solids were oven dried at 80°C for 5 h and ground to a fine
powder using a mortar and pestle. The solid yield (% ) from the synthesis
reaction was determined by multiplying 100 the weight ratio of final : 
initial solids.

SILICA COATED MNPS

Silica-coating of iron oxide nanoparticle Silica coating was carried out using modified reported
methods [22, 23]. Deng e cols. prepared silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles using different types
of alcohols, and various volume ratios of ethanol to water (VE/W). The feeding amount of catalyst
and TEOS were also varied and the synthesis products were carefully characterized. In our study we
used the optimized experimental conditions obtained in those studies. The formulations of each
reaction were the same except for the type of catalyst. Typically 0.04 g of magnetic powder was
diluted with 160 mL ethyl alcohol. This dispersion was homogenized by ultrasonic vibration in water
bath for 10 min. Finally, 40 mL water, 1 mL TEOS, and either 5 mL ammonia aqueous (pH 10) or 5 mL
of acidified (HCl - pH 1.7) aqueous solution were slowly added to this dispersion and stirred for 24 h.
At this point, magnetic separation was made with the help of a permanent magnet and the magnetic
powder collected alone was thoroughly washed with distilled water six times. These samples were
named MtSi-a and MtSi-b, where a and b denote the acid (pH equal 4.1) and basic media (pH equal
11.4), respectively. The samples were placed under humidified atmosphere overnight and next
treated in dry room atmosphere for 96 h

2.4. Modification of yam peel biomass with magnetite nanoparticles (MNP-YP) Yam peel biomass
was washed with distilled water, dried at 100°C, and grounded until obtaining a powder sample
(0,425mm). The synthesized magnetite nanoparticles were suspended in DMSO (4.5% w/v) using an
ultrasonic bath for 2 hours. Afterwards, it was added 5 mL of TEOS. Reaction mixture was carried out
to a shaker at 150 rpm at room temperature during 48 h. Afterwards, it was added 5g of powder
yam peel keeping constant the agitation during 12 hours at 25 °C. Therefore, MNP-YP material was
washed twice with ethanol using magnetic decantation and dried in an oven at 80°C (Bourgeat-Lami
and Lang, 1998; Herrera, Barrera and Rinaldi, 2008)

The biological synthesis of

IONPs was carried out using
waste banana peel extract
and
mixture was subjected to
continuous heating at 80 °C
and
stirring (500rpm) until the
color changes from yellowish
to
black indicated the formation
of IONPs. The solution was
oven-dried to separate the
formed NPs from the
solution.
The NPs were washed twice
with distilled water and cen-
trifuged to remove the
reaction impurities. The NPs
thus
obtain