Selective removal of Cu(Ⅱ) from contaminated water using molecularly imprinted polymer

A synthetic molecularly imprinted polymer(MIP)was prepared by noncovalent imprinting technique for the selective removal of Cu^(2+)from aqueous solutions.In the preparation of imprinted polymer,Cu^(2+)was used as the template,oleic acid as the functional monomer and divinylbenzene as the cross-linker.The surface morphol-ogies and characteristics of the MIP were determined by BET,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),FTIR and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer(EDS).The proper adsorption and selective recognition ability of the MIP were studied by an equilibrium-adsorption method.In general,the removal efficiency of Cu^(2+)increased rapidly with pH from 2 to 7 and decreased at a pH 8.The removal efficiency of Cu^(2+)increased with temperature from 25℃ to 50℃.Competitive adsorption studies showed that the coexisting cations have no obvious influence on the adsorption of Cu^(2+).In addition,the variation in the adsorption ability of the MIP that was repeatedly used was investigated,and it showed excellent reproducibility.