Tetravalent Cerium Cation Imprinted Crosslinked Acrylamide/Alginic Acid Copolymer Network: A Sorption and Ce(IV) Ion-Selectivity Study from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

A novel tetravalent cerium cation-imprinted crosslinked polymer network (Ce(IV)-CICPN) based on polyacrylamide was synthesized by metal-ion-imprinting strategy in an aqueous medium with N,N-methylene-bis-acrylamide (NNMBA) as crosslinker. The synthesized CPN is characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, PXRD analysis, SEM studies, EDX and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption performance was studied using adsorption isotherms and kinetics. The Ce(IV)-CICPN was optimized for maximum Ce(IV) ion sorption using the batch equilibration method, and its performance has been compared with that of a non-imprinted crosslinked polymer network (non-imprinted CPN). It was found that it possesses a maximum adsorption capacity of 70.3 mg/g. The surface area of both Ce(IV)-CICPN and non-imprinted CPNs were determined by BET surface area analysis and found to be 2.103 m2 g–1 and 0.62 m2 g–1, respectively. Polymer efficiency as a selective sorbent for Ce(IV) ion was estimated through examining its selectivity relative to Zn(II), Mg(II), Cr(IV) and V(V).