| Summary: | Date palm trees generate large amounts of various types of waste, including leaf sheath fibres, which can be used as a low-cost precursor for the production of biochar, including activated carbon (AC), which can be employed for the adsorption of contaminants. In the current study, activated carbon was produced from leaf sheath fibres of date palms (LSDPFAC) by the use of chemical activation with K<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub> combined with microwave irradiation, and it was characterised and evaluated for its adsorptive capacity of lead ions (Pb<sup>2+</sup>). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, Langmuir surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter of the LSDPFAC were 560.20 m<sup>2</sup>/g, 744.31 m<sup>2</sup>/g, 0.29 cm<sup>3</sup>/g and 2.47 nm, respectively. A greater adsorption of Pb<sup>2+</sup> was observed when its concentration was higher in the solution, and the greatest adsorption capacity of 5.67 mg Pb/g was observed at the highest pH. The results of isotherm and kinetic studies demonstrated that the adsorption of Pb<sup>2+</sup> onto the LSDPFAC was best described by the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order (PSO) models. The Langmuir ΔG° and E<sub>a</sub> were 6.39 kJ/mol, 0.12 kJ/mol K, −31.28 kJ/mol and 15.90 kJ/mol, respectively, which demonstrated that the adsorption of Pb<sup>2+</sup> by the LSDPFAC was endothermic, spontaneous and governed by physisorption.
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