Quaternization of Poly(2-diethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) Brush-Grafted Magnetic Mesoporous Nanoparticles Using 2-Iodoethanol for Removing Anionic Dyes

Khalid Mohammed Alotaibi,Abdullah M Alswieleh,Ashfaq Ahmad,Abeer M Beagan,Hassan M Al-Swaidan,Abdurrahman A Almethen,Showkat Ahmad Bhawani

doi:10.3390/app112110451

Abstract

Magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Fe3O4-MSNs) were successfully synthesized with a relatively high surface area of 568 m2g−1. Fe3O4-MSNs were then modified with poly(2-diethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEMA) brushes using surface-initiated ARGET atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) (Fe3O4@MSN-PDMAEMA). Since the charge of PDEAEMA is externally regulated by solution pH, tertiary amines in the polymer chains were quaternized using 2-iodoethanol to obtain cationic polymer chains with a permanent positive charge (Fe3O4@MSN-QPDMAEMA). The intensity of the C−O peak in the C1s X-ray photoelectron spectrum increased after reaction with 2-iodoethanol, suggesting that the quaternization process was successful. The applicability of the synthesized materials on the removal of methyl orange (MO), and sunset yellow (E110) dyes from an aqueous solution was examined. The effects of pH, contact time, and initial dyes concentrations on the removal performance were investigated by batch experiments. The results showed that the Fe3O4@MSN-PDMAEMA sample exhibited a weak adsorption performance toward both MO and E110, compared with Fe3O4@MSN-QPDMAEMA at a pH level above 5. The maximum adsorption capacities of MO and E110 using Fe3O4@MSN-QPDMAEMA were 294 mg g−1 and 194.8 mg g−1, respectively.

Highlights

According to recent United Nations projections, the world’s population will increase by more than a third by 2050
There is a noticeable increase in the average diameter of Fe3O4@MSNPDEAEMA, with ca. 20 nm, compared with none coated nanoparticles
The poly(2-diethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEMA) brushes showed as a layer surrounding the modified Fe3O4@Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs)

Summary

Introduction

According to recent United Nations projections, the world’s population will increase by more than a third by 2050. Increased population growth has led to an increase in industrialization and, an increase in the release of pollutants into wastewater, which threatens health and the environment [3,4,5,6,7]. Among these pollutants are dyes that are widely used in the most common industries, such as textiles, paper, and plastics [8,9,10,11]. In the past few decades, great attention has been paid to the adsorption process due to its ease of application on a large scale and its efficiency [29,30,31,32,33,34]

Methods

Results

Conclusion