title: Preparation of an ion-imprinted fiber for the selective removal of Cu2+.
abstract: A novel Cu(2+)-imprinted fiber (IIF) was prepared by grafting acrylic acid (AA) onto the surface of a polypropylene (PP) fiber and subsequently modified with polyethylenimine (PEI). An examination by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the ion-imprinted polymer was successfully introduced onto the surface of a PP fiber. The modification of PP fibers with AA was beneficial to the grafting of PEI onto the fibers. The highest grafting degree of PEI could reach 120 wt % under optimal grafting conditions. This IIF showed excellent tensile and chemical stability in acid solution, which qualified the IIF for practical applications. Besides having a high adsorption capacity for Cu(2+) (120 mg/g), the IIF adsorbent showed a high selectivity for Cu(2+) as compared with that of the non-ion-imprinted fiber (NIF). The dynamic adsorption results indicated that IIF can thoroughly remove Cu(2+) from the solution in a relatively short contact time. The effective treatment volume was about 910 bed volumes. The selectivity coefficient of IIF for Cu(2+) with respect to Zn(2+) could reach 76.4. IIF also has good regeneration performance and could maintain almost the same adsorption capacity for copper ions after 10 adsorption-desorption cycles.
authors.affiliation: PCFM Lab, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Tongyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuixia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Haichao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qihan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu