Effect of ethylene diamine tetra‐acetic acid and functional monomers on the structure and adsorption properties of copper (II) ion‐imprinted polymers

Abstract

Novel copper (II) ion‐imprinted polymers (Cu‐IIPs) were synthesized by bulk polymerization using 1 mmol of copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate as the template ion, 1 mmol of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as the ligand, and 4 mmol of 4‐vinyl pyridine (4‐VP) or methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer dissolved in a porogen of 20 mL of methanol. Polymerization was performed with 20 mmol of pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) as the crosslinker and 1 mmol of benzoyl peroxide as the initiator. The effect of pH, time, initial concentration of Cu2+, and selectivity tests on the adsorption capacity were investigated using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS). The prepared polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). Adsorption capacity of Cu‐IIPs prepared with MAA increased from 0.794 to 2.163 mg g−1 at pH 6 within 24 hours, while Cu‐IIPs from MAA had high recognition ability with better recognition of Cu2+ than other ions. Thus, these Cu‐IIPs demonstrated potential application as an adsorbent for efficient removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions.

Pickering Emulsion Polymerization Technology─Toward Nanostructured Materials for Applications in Metal Ion Extractions from Wastewaters

“…18 Utilizing the same polymerization technique and the same base composition of monomers, but with the addition of the EDTA ligand, the maximum adsorption capacities were increased to 2.16 mg/g. 37 However, we note that these results are significantly lower than those reported here. In another report, a drastically different result is obtained from the same monomers (4-VP and MMA), ), where K F and 1/n are constants.…”

A Note about Crosslinking Density in Imprinting Polymerization

“…The properties of the crosslinker also make a difference in the surface area, pore size, and binding capacity of the resulting polymer, as well as the structure of the prepolymerization complex [ 36 , 42 , 44 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ]. The intermolecular forces between the template, monomer, crosslinker, and solvent drive the formation of the prepolymerization complex, as was confirmed by several computational studies [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 73 , 74 ].…”

“…As with porogens, that can cause phase separation, which leads to denser structures and less surface area. Functional monomers and crosslinkers participate in the prepolymerization according to their molar ratios and matching intermolecular forces [36,42,44,[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74]. This often results in a variety of structurally different prepolymerization complexes, since the strength of binding with compounds of similar properties can be similar [72,73].…”

“…This often results in a variety of structurally different prepolymerization complexes, since the strength of binding with compounds of similar properties can be similar [72,73]. The structure of the crosslinker is also important in an additional way: Multifunctional crosslinkers result in fully-crosslinked materials with a lower molar ratio than difunctional crosslinkers, since one molecule can connect more than two polymer chains [36,37,42,56,58,59,72,76].…”

Development of Adsorptive Membranes for Selective Removal of Contaminants in Water

“…Some of these challenges can be overcome by using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), which facilitate selective removal. MIPs have been used to remove a wide variety of contaminants from water, from contaminants of emerging concern [ 16 ], to heavy metal ions [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], to radioactive materials [ 20 ]. For instance, Gornik et al [ 21 ] investigated MIPs as sorbents for the removal of antidepressants from wastewater.…”