Three kinds of modified expanded graphite (EG), impregnated with phosphoric acid (H3PO4) (P-EG), impregnated with glucose (G-EG), and impregnated with H3PO4 and glucose (G-P-EG), were prepared under a low temperature (150 degrees C). The adsorption capacity of G-P-EG (Q(m) = 7.016 mg/g) is much higher than original expanded graphite (EG Q(m) = 0.423 mg/g) and other two kinds of modified expanded graphite (P-EG Q(m) = 0.770 mg/g; G-EG Q(m) = 0.507 mg/g). The physicochemical properties of EG and G-P-EG were characterized by N-2 adsorption/desorption, Boehm's titration and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). EG exhibited higher values of BET surface area (11.357 m(2)/g) and total pore volume (0.0303 cm(3)/g) than that of G-P-EG (4.808 m(3)/g and 0.0109 cm(3)/g). However, the results of Bohm's titration and XPS showed that G-P-EG contained more surface oxygen-containing functional groups. The Ni(II) adsorption equilibrium data agreed well with the Langmuir model. And the experimental data of EG and G-P-EG fitted better by pseudo-second order model. Based on the results of batch adsorption experiments and XPS analysis, there were several possible mechanisms for Ni(II) adsorption on the G-P-EG, including chemical adsorption, cation exchange, electrostatic attraction and surface complication. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.