A polypyrrole/chitosan composite material was obtained by chemical polymerization. The adsorption performance of a hot-molded polypyrrole/chitosan composite electrode was tested by adsorption/desorption experiments. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy both showed the deposition of polypyrrole on the chitosan surface. The specific capacitance of the polypyrrole/chitosan composite was determined by cyclic voltammetry in 1.0 M KCl at 0.01 V/s as 102.96 F/g. The adsorption/desorption experiments indicated that the specific adsorption capacity of the composite for Cu2+ was 99.67 mg/g, while the removal performance for other metal ions, such as Ag+, Pb2+, and Cd2+, was good. The results of multicycle adsorption/desorption tests showed that the adsorption rate of the polypyrrole/chitosan composite electrode for Cu2+ was decreased from 56.4 to 51.4% over 10 cycles, demonstrating the stable metal-ion adsorption/desorption behavior of the composite electrode. The obtained performances show that the prepared polypyrrole/chitosan composite material is an ideal electrode material for the removal of heavy metal ions.
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