Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous polymeric microspheres of methacrylic derivatives of aromatic thiols

K Fila,B Gawdzik,Y Bolbukh,M Goliszek,M Gargol,B Podkościelna

doi:10.1007/s10450-019-00022-8

Abstract

The paper presents the synthesis and characterization of mesoporous microspheres of derivatives of three aromatic thiols: S-phenyl 2-methylprop-2-enethioate (PSM), S,S′-thiodi-4,1-phenylenebis(thiomethacrylate) (DMSPS), and bis[4(2-hydroxy-3-methacryloyloxypropoxy)phenyl]sulfide (BES.DM) with divinylbenzene (DVB). The microspheres were obtained by the emulsion-suspension polymerization procedure. The chemical and porous structure, morphology, and properties of the microspheres were analyzed by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR/FT-IR) spectroscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption data, optical microscope MORPHOLOGI G3, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF). Moreover, studies on the Pb(II) ions sorption process were carried out on the above mentioned compounds. The sorption kinetics and mechanism were described by the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The sorption equilibria were described by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The PSM-DVB, DMSPS-DVB, and BES.DM-DVB microspheres exhibit high thermal resistance and good adsorption properties of Pb(II) ions. The best adsorption properties for the examined microspheres were obtained at pH 5. The highest monolayer adsorption capacity determined by Langmuir isotherm was obtained for the DMSPS-DVB microspheres and was equal to 22.54 mg/g. The preliminary studies show that the synthesized microspheres can be used as heavy metal ion sorbents from aqueous solutions.

Highlights

Water pollution with heavy metal ions is a global environmental problem
The wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) analysis confirmed the presence of sulfur in the synthesized microspheres
The sorption kinetics is well described by the pseudo-second order model

Summary

Introduction

Water pollution with heavy metal ions is a global environmental problem. The regulations concerning heavy metal emissions into the aqueous environment as well as greater requirements for minimizing their occurrence in water become more and more urgent. A very important and still not fully solved problem is the effective removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous. There are conventional methods for the removal of heavy metal ions from water and wastewater such as coagulation, chemical precipitation, solvent extraction, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, or electrolysis. Despite many advantages, these methods have disadvantages, including, for example, small efficiency in the case of low concentrations, generation of toxic wastes, or high costs. In the protection of the aquatic environment, more attention is paid to the development of new, economical, and effective materials (Carlos and Einschlag 2013; Neyaz et al 2013)

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Results

Conclusion