Gelatin-based hydrogels were synthesized and characterized for use as Cu 2þ -ion sorbents. Gelatin was crosslinked in the presence of two different monomers, that is, acrylamide (AAm) and/or 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, with N,N-methylenebisacrylamide, ammonium persulfate, and sodium bicarbonate. The as-prepared hydrogels were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform spectroscopy, and the study of their swelling behavior as a function of temperature, time, and pH to evaluate their structure-property relationships. The hydrogels were observed to be good sorbents of Cu 2þ , and a maximum uptake of 84.8% was observed within 2 h at 37 C and with 10 ppm of the Cu 2þ -ion solution for the gelatin and polyacrylamide hydrogel, which also exhibited the maximum retention capacity at 14.9 mg/g after four feeds. All of the experimental data exhibited good matches with the Langmuir isotherm and followed pseudo-second-order kinetics.