title: Selective removal of heavy metal ions by disulfide linked polymer networks.
abstract: Heavy metal contaminated surface water is one of the oldest pollution problems, which is critical to ecosystems and human health. We devised disulfide linked polymer networks and employed as a sorbent for removing heavy metal ions from contaminated water. Although the polymer network material has a moderate surface area, it demonstrated cadmium removal efficiency equivalent to highly porous activated carbon while it showed 16 times faster sorption kinetics compared to activated carbon, owing to the high affinity of cadmium towards disulfide and thiol functionality in the polymer network. The metal sorption mechanism on polymer network was studied by sorption kinetics, effect of pH, and metal complexation. We observed that the metal ions-copper, cadmium, and zinc showed high binding affinity in polymer network, even in the presence of competing cations like calcium in water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Dongah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of EEWS, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joo Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 USA.
authors.forename: Hasmukh A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Micro and Nano technology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, 345B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mogens H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongreung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yuhoon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of EEWS, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Cafer T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Yavuz
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hans Chr Bruun
authors.initials: HCB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: henrik@ndersen.net.
authors.forename: Henrik R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Andersen
keywords: Heavy metals ion removal; Polymer network; Selective removal; Sulfur functionality; Wastewater treatment