Fabrication of a novel molecularly imprinted polymer magnetic adsorbent and investigation of its performance for removing copper ions from water

Abstract

The construction and investigation of the properties of the molecular imprinting polymer (MIP) adsorbent to remove the copper ion pollutant from the aqueous environment was carried out in this research. In the first stage, iron/silica core-shell nanoparticles were made by co-precipitation method, and then functionalization and in-situ polymerization were done with monomer and target ion (copper), and finally, by washing the copper ion, the molecular imprinting polymer adsorbent was obtained. FTIR, XRD, TEM, FESEM, EDX, BET and VSM tests were performed to determine the absorbent properties. The results showed that the formation of the core-shell structure for iron/silica nanoparticles was successfully established and then the spherical structure of the polymer absorbent with an average particle size of about 30-40 nm was well formed. The results of the absorption tests for copper ion showed that the optimum amount of adsorbent dose is about 18 mg and the best amount of absorption occurs at a pH of about 7. High adsorption capacity, good selectivity and reusability for molecular role polymer adsorbent were observed in adsorption tests. The results of the adsorption-desorption tests showed that after 6 reuses of the adsorbent, a slight decrease (about 8%) in the adsorption removal occurred. To verify the adsorption performance, the synthesized adsorbent was placed in contact with a power plant water sample and showed an adsorption rate of 88% for copper ions.