Abstract
A cellulosic material has been synthesized that could efficiently and selectively adsorb organic and inorganic contaminants from aqueous solutions without interference from competing adsorption sites. Cellulose-graft-tetraethylenepentamine molecular imprinted polymer (C-TEPA-MIP) was synthesized by using 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as the template. The C-TEPA-MIP adsorbent could adsorb 4-NP and Cr(VI) simultaneously and selectively, without being affected by the competitive adsorption sites of each of these pollutants. The adsorption of 4-NP was predominantly due to the imprinted sites of 4-NP in C-TEPA-MIP that were located inside of the adsorbent, whereas that of Cr(VI) was primarily due to the amine groups of TEPA found on the surface of the adsorbent. Compared with the non-imprint polymer synthesized without the template, C-TEPA-MIP showed higher selectivity for both 4-NP and Cr(VI) in unitary and binary systems. In addition, C-TEPA-MIP exhibited good stability and recyclability for 4-NP, which makes it a promising candidate material for applications concerning wastewater treatment.Graphical abstract
Highlights
The global attention focused on environmental protection and renewable resources has made the search for multifunctional recyclable adsorption materials an urgent task. 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] are two of the most important pollutants of water. 4-NP is commonly used in chemical industry (Karami and Zeynizadeh 2019) and pharmaceuticals (Anh and Doong 2018)
The special reticular pore structure of C-TEPA-molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) would facilitate the exposure of a higher number of active sites, which would play a conducive role during the adsorption process
The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicated that cellulose-Br was successfully prepared, and TEPA was successfully grafted onto cellulose
Summary
The global attention focused on environmental protection and renewable resources has made the search for multifunctional recyclable adsorption materials an urgent task. 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] are two of the most important pollutants of water. 4-NP is commonly used in chemical industry (Karami and Zeynizadeh 2019) and pharmaceuticals (Anh and Doong 2018). In MIT, the target molecule is polymerized with monomer or crosslinking agent to form a polymer, and the template is removed to obtain MIPs. MIPs have the capacity to selectively adsorb the target molecule (BelBruno 2019; Schirhagl 2014), making MIT an effective solution for the challenges that arise from competitive adsorption (Cantarella et al 2019; Mohammadi et al 2021). Zhou et al (2020) prepared a magnetic Cr(VI)-imprinted polymer using F e3O4 nanoparticles as a carrier and K2Cr2O7 as a template for removal of Cr(VI) in water. These adsorption materials (Kumar et al 2020; Linye Jiang et al 2016) are all monofunctional for either the organic pollutant 4-NP or the inorganic pollutant Cr(VI). Challenges remain in the structural design of bifunctional adsorbents in MIPs, where the key question to be answered is how to avoid competitive adsorption in MIPs
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