Synthesis, Characterization, Electrical and Photocatalytic Studies of Polyacrylamide Zr(IV) Phosphosulphosalicylate, a Cation Exchanger: Its Application in the Removal of Hg (II) from Aqueous Solution

Abstract

In this work, we synthesized successfully a new organic–inorganic material, polyacrylamide Zr(IV) phosphosulphosalicylate (PAAZPSS) by simple sol–gel method and converted in a cation exchanger and then applied as an adsorbent for the removal of Hg (II) from aqueous solution. In order to confirm the desired synthesis, the prepared material was characterized by many sophisticated techniques such as FTIR, SEM and XRD. The ion exchange adsorbent exhibits good ion exchange capacity (IEC) for alkali metal ion (\(\hbox {K}^{+})\). Selective studies of this ion exchange adsorbent for different metal ions were performed, and on the basis of \({K}_{\mathrm{d}}\) values PAAZPSS was more selective for Hg (II). The sorption experiment for the Hg (II) removal was performed using batch method. The adsorption process followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters revealed the feasibility, spontaneity, endothermic nature of the PAAZPSS-Hg (II) system. The material showed high value of dielectric constant, dielectric loss at low-frequency region and enhanced AC conductivity at low-frequency region so it can be used in energy storage devices. The material also showed good photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and crystal violet dyes. So it may be concluded that polyacrylamide Zr(IV) phosphosulphosalicylate can be employed not only for the treatment of inorganic metal ion and photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes but also in electrical application.