Gold (Au) selective adsorption using polyeugenol based ionic imprinted polymer with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate crosslink

Abstract

The Ionic imprinted polymer (IIP) Au (III) adsorbent has been synthesized using polyeugenol as a base polymer with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a crosslinking agent to adsorb Au (III) metal ions from water media. The synthesis procedure includes polymerization, binding of mold ions, crosslinking and mold ions release. As a comparison, the non-imprinted polymer (NIP) material was also synthesized. The polymer yielded was characterized using FTIR, SEM-EDX, and TGA-DTA and then continued with adsorption. Selective adsorption was tested for a mixture of Au (III) binary metal ions with Cd (II), Pb (II) and Fe (III). The adsorption mechanism of Au (III) in all adsorbents is dominant because of the coordination bond between the -OH group and the Au (III) hydrate. Adsorption capacity is expressed as a percentage of IIP-Au (III) of 99.88% over the capacity of other adsorbents; IIP-Au (III) is more selective than NIP with successive selectivity coefficients of Fe (III) 263.03, Cd (II) 53.18, and Pb (II) 6.06.