Selective adsorption behavior of ion-imprinted magnetic chitosan beads for removal of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution

Heavy metal ion is one of the major environmental pollutants. In this study, a Cu(II) ions imprinted magnetic chitosan beads are prepared to use chitosan as functional monomer, Cu(II) ions as template, Fe₃O₄ as magnetic core and epichlorohydrin and glutaraldehyde as crosslinker, which can be used for removal Cu(II) ions from wastewater. The kinetic study shows that the adsorption process follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic equations. The adsorption isotherm study shows that the Langmuir isotherm equation best fits for the monolayer adsorption processes. The selective adsorption properties are performed in Cu(II)/Zn(II), Cu(II)/Ni(II), and Cu(II)/Co(II) binary systems. The results shows that the IIMCD has a high selectivity for Cu(II) ions in binary systems. The mechanism of IIMCD recognition Cu(II) ions is also discussed. The results show that the IIMCD adsorption Cu(II) ions is an enthalpy controlled process. The absolute value of ΔH (Cu(II)) and ΔS(Cu(II)) is greater than ΔH (Zn(II), Ni(II), Co(II)) and ΔS (Zn(II), Ni(II), Co(II)), respectively, this indicates that the Cu(II) ions have a good spatial matching with imprinted holes on IIMCD. The FTIR and XPS also demonstrates the strongly combination of function groups on imprinted holes in the suitable space position. Finally, the IIMCD can be regenerated and reused for 10 times without a significantly decreasing in adsorption capacity. This information can be used for further application in the selective removal of Cu(II) ions from industrial wastewater.