Preparation and adsorption characters of Cu(II)-imprinted chitosan/attapulgite polymer

Abstract

Using attapulgite (ATP) as matrix, chitosan (CS) as functional monomer, and introducing the surface ion- imprinting concept, a new Cu(II)-IIP was prepared, and characterized by SEM, XRD and FT-IR. The adsorption of Cu(II) aqueous solution with Cu(II)-IIP was investigated by flame atomic adsorption spectroscopy (FAAS). The polymer has good selectivity for Cu(II) from competitive metal ions, and the selectivity coefficient of Cu(II) relation to Pb(II), Cd(II) was 78.45 and 82.44, respectively. Sorption equilibrium isotherms could be described by Langmuir and Freundlich models; the Freundlich isotherm has shown the best agreement with experimental data, and experimental value of max- imum adsorption capacity for Cu(II) was 35.20 mg/g. The obtained thermodynamic parameter (∆G o , ∆H o , ∆S o ) showed that the Cu(II) adsorption process is a spontaneous and endothermic process. The kinetic data showed that pseudo- second-order kinetic model agrees very well with the dynamic behavior for the sorption of Cu(II) onto Cu(II)-IIP.