Hybrid PET Track-Etched Membranes Grafted by Well-Defined Poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) Brushes and Loaded with Silver Nanoparticles for the Removal of As(III)

Abstract

Nanoporous track-etched membranes (TeM) are promising materials as adsorbents to remove toxic pollutants, but control over the pore diameter and density in addition to precise functionalization of nanochannels is crucial for controlling the surface area and efficiency of TeMs. This study reported the synthesis of functionalized PET TeMs as high-capacity sorbents for the removal of trivalent arsenic, As(III), which is more mobile and about 60 times more toxic than As(V). Nanochannels of PET-TeMs were functionalized by UV-initiated reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated grafting of 2-(dimethyamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), allowing precise control of the degree of grafting and graft lengths within the nanochannels. Ag NPs were then loaded onto PDMAEMA-g-PET to provide a hybrid sorbent for As(III) removal. The As(III) removal efficiency of Ag@PDMAEMA-g-PET, PDMAEMA-g-PET, and pristine PET TeM was compared by adsorption kinetics studies at various pH and sorption times. The adsorption of As(III) by Ag@DMAEMA-g-PET and DMAEMA-g-PET TeMs was found to follow the Freundlich mechanism and a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. After 10 h, As(III) removal efficiencies were 85.6% and 56% for Ag@PDMAEMA-g-PET and PDMAEMA-g-PET, respectively, while PET template had a very low arsenic sorption capacity of 17.5% at optimal pH of 4.0, indicating that both PDMAEMA grafting and Ag-NPs loading significantly increased the As(III) removal capacity of PET-TeMs.

Effect of copper doping on the photocatalytic performance of Ni2O3@PC membrane composites in norfloxacin degradation

“…44 The phase composition was determined using the Rietveld method, which is based on approximating the areas of the diffraction peaks and determining the convergence with reference values for each phase. The volume fraction of the composite phase was determined using eqn (2): 45 where I phase is the average integral intensity of the main phase of the diffraction line, I admixture is the average integral intensity of the additional phase, and R is the structural coefficient equal to 1.…”

“…The application of polymeric TeMs as a support for composites synthesis has proven effective in producing highly efficient membrane catalysts for the removal of different classes of contaminants. [38][39][40][41] We conducted comprehensive investigations on both the initial (Cu@PC and Ni 2 O 3 @PC) and the resulting (Cu/Ni 2 O 3 @PC) composites, focusing on their photocatalytic degradation capacity for noroxacin (NOR).…”

Preparation and application of stimuli-responsive PET TeMs: RAFT graft block copolymerisation of styrene and acrylic acid for the separation of water–oil emulsions

“…The grafting degree (DG) was evaluated by determining the mass of membranes before and after modification, according to eqn (1). 15,16,23 DG = ( m 2 − m 1 )/ m 1 × 100%where DG—is the degree of grafting, m 1 —is the weight of the membrane before grafting, and m 2 —is the weight of the membrane after grafting.…”

“…The graing degree (DG) was evaluated by determining the mass of membranes before and aer modication, according to eqn (1). 15,16,23…”

Adsorption isotherms and kinetics for Pb(ii) ion removal from aqueous solutions with biogenic metal oxide nanoparticles

“…The applicability of the pseudo-second-order model to the biogenic sorbents suggests that the chemisorption stage governs the limiting step of the process, with the inuence of the diffusion stage being insignicant. 86 Table 4 Comparison of the parameters of different kinetic models for describing the sorption of Pb(II) using biogenic metal oxide NPs…”