Adsorption of Cd2+ by an ion-imprinted thiol-functionalized polymer in competition with heavy metal ions and organic acids

The simultaneous presence of heavy metals and organic acids in nature and wastewaters and their competition for adsorption sites determine the migration, transformation and fate of pollutants in the environment. A Cd²⁺-ion-imprinted polymer (Cd²⁺-IIP) with a thiol-functional group was hydrothermally synthesized by a surface imprinting technique combined with ultrasonic heating for selective adsorption of Cd²⁺ from wastewaters. The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, EDS, XPS, BET and FT-IR measurements. The experimental results concerning Cd²⁺ adsorption from single-, binary-, ternary- and quaternary-metal aqueous solutions containing Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ revealed high selectivity. In binary-metal solutions, relative selectivity coefficients for Cd²⁺ in respect to Cd²⁺/Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺/Ni²⁺, and Cd²⁺/Zn²⁺ were as high as 3.74, 5.73 and 4.15, respectively. In multi-metal solutions, competing heavy metal ions had little effect on the adsorption of Cd²⁺ attributed to the high selectivity of Cd²⁺-IIP towards Cd²⁺ determined by its coordination geometry. The effect of low-molecular weight organic acids on the Cd²⁺ adsorption was also studied and the results showed that the presence of tartaric, citric and oxalic acids as admixtures in Cd²⁺ aqueous solutions noticeably reduced the cation adsorption in a wide range of concentrations with the minor exception of low contents of citric and tartaric acids slightly improving adsorption.

A Cd²⁺-imprinted thiol-functionalized polymer in competition with heavy metal ions and low molecular weight organic acids was investigated.