Preparation of Self-assembled Starch-based Organometallic Polymers and Their Efficient Adsorption of Mercury Ion in Water

Abstract

Herein, a newly-developed material called Thiourea@WOx/Starch Polymer (TH@WOx/SP) were prepared by one-pot and high yield solvothermal method. The relevant characterizations and adsorption performance were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Zeta potential analysis and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Surprisingly, with its abundant active sites, the TH@WOx/SP revealed its excellent adsorption capacity for heavy metal and organics dye, as high as 2201.16 mg/g for Hg (Ⅱ) and 175.01 mg/g for methylene blue (MB), finished within 30 min and 90 min, respectively. These satisfactorily fast and high adsorption capacities not only came down to its concave-convex structure, but also to its enriched functional groups serving as anchor sites for Hg (Ⅱ) and MB. The adsorption mechanism of Hg (Ⅱ) and MB on TH@WOx/SP was carefully evaluated, which could be attributed to covalent coordination, ion exchange, π-π interaction, hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attraction. This work designed a new strategy to develop a novel porous metal organic polymers adsorbents and demonstrated its prospective application in the field of adsorption.