Polyethyleneimine (PEI) and Chitosan (CS) grafted with L-cysteine were used as effective materials for Hg(II) adsorption

Abstract

Naturally derived polymer materials have attracted extensive attention due to their abundant and environmentally friendly characteristics, and have been modified by more and more scholars to meet specific properties. As a global pollutant that seriously affects human health and ecosystems, Hg(II) is posing a great threat to human and environmental safety. Therefore, it is of great practical significance and commercial value to develop cheap, easily available and excellent Hg(II) adsorbent materials. In this paper, two kinds of effective porous materials for Hg(II) adsorption were successfully prepared by using the water-soluble polymer polyethyleneimine(PEI) and chitosan(CS) as raw materials and modified with L-cysteine(L-Cys), which is simple in structure and environmentally friendly. The maximum Hg(II) adsorption capacities of PEI-Cys and CS-Cys were 231.2 mg/g and 407.4 mg/g. This work provides a new and reliable idea for the practical application of Hg(II) pollution removal.