Facile and efficient removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution by chitosan-lead ion imprinted polymer network.

A new chitosan based imprinted polymer was prepared by copolymerization of 4-Vinylpyridine (VP) as a functional monomer and N,N'-Methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker in the presence of Potassium peroxodisulfate (KPS) as an initiator to eliminate Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. The template ions were removed from ion imprinted polymer (IIPs) particles by leaching with 0.1 M nitric acid (HNO3) that leaves cavities in the particles with the capability of selective extraction of the Pb(II) ions. Some properties of the bioadsorbent were further identified using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). In addition, the equilibrium adsorption data were examined through Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and it was found that adsorption data fit well with the Freundlich isotherm. The competitive adsorption studies clearly showed that the Pb(II)-IP has a much higher adsorption capacity for Pb(II) than the non-imprinted polymer (NIP) with the same chemical composition; furthermore, it has excellent selectivity for the targeted ion. In addition, the studies regarding the regeneration and reuse studies revealed that the Pb(II)-IP beads showed no significant decrease in their adsorption capacities.