Selective Sorption of Silver Ions from Aqueous Solutions Using Poly(N-thiocarbamoyl‑ 3-aminopropylsilsesquioxane)

Abstract

The accumulation of electronic waste (e-waste) on the ground leads to environmental pollution with toxic metal ions, which subsequently harms all living organisms. Many countries still use hydrometallurgical or manual methods to extract silver ions from e-waste. These methods are unsustainable and highly toxic; therefore, it becomes necessary to introduce new environmentally compatible methods for separating valuable components from objects of various compositions. This article proposes an environmentally compatible method for the extraction of silver ions from multicomponent systems using poly(N-thiocarbamoyl‑3-aminopropylsilsesquioxane). The sorbent surface was studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy using an attenuated total internal reflection accessory. The concentration of grafted thiourea groups is 1.39 mmol/g according to elemental analysis. It has been determined that this sorbent is capable of quantitatively extracting silver ions in the pH range from 0 to 6 at a concentration of silver ions in the initial solution of 1·10–4 mol/dm3; the static sorption capacity for silver ions under experimental conditions reaches 1.22 mmol/g. When sorption is carried out in dynamic mode, the value of the dynamic capacity before breakthrough is 0.046 mmol/g, and the value of the total dynamic capacity for silver ions is 0.132 mmol/g. The highest desorption (71–78 %) is achieved using sulfuric acid solutions with a thiourea concentration gradient.