Novel inorganic–organic hybrid polymers to remove heavy metals from aqueous solution

Abstract

AbstractPoly-GPTS was prepared by polymerization of 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS) with potassium tert-butoxide (KOtBu) at 50°C. After this stage, adsorbents poly-GPTS and poly-GPTS/Ti(O)/OH were prepared from hydrolysis of poly-GPTS and mixtures between poly-GPTS and titanium isopropoxide in 1:1 mol ratio. The hydrolysis was carried out in 50 ml of isopropanol with 0.1 M HCl. The characterizations of the adsorbents were performed by elemental analysis, thermogravimetric, and spectroscopic methods. After hydrolysis, it was seen that isopropoxide and methoxide groups were removed from the adsorbents under the studied conditions because of the condensation reactions. Pb2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ ions were removed from the aqueous solution using these hybrid polymers as adsorbents. Influence factors such as the initial pH, adsorption time, the amounts of adsorbent, and solution concentrations on Pb2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ adsorptions were investigated. The study showed that they were very good adsorbents for r...