New ion-imprinted polymer for selective removal of Cu ion in aqueous solution using extracted Aloe vera leaves as a monomer.

The objective of this project is to create a unique type of polymer known as an ion imprinted polymer (IIP) and a non-imprinted polymer (NIP) utilizing natural waste biosorbent materials. One example of this type of waste is Aloe vera, a plant with many medicinal uses that is grown globally. Aloe vera is considered one of the most valuable medicinal plants with a wide range of applications. Extracted Aloe vera was used as functional monomers for the first time to prepare new IIPs, epichlorohydrin, and Cu ion as the cross-linking agent and template, respectively. The NIP was also synthesized for comparison, without the use of the Cu salt. Following polymerization, the IIP particles were cleansed of template ions through a 0.1 M EDTA leaching process, resulting in the formation of cavities within the particles, these cavities in the polymer provide selective linking zones for these specific template ions. The synthesized IIPs were characterized using the most recent identification instruments. The experimental parameters for adsorption, such as pH of a solution, contact time, initial copper concentration, adsorbent dosage, and temperature have been optimized. The most effective conditions for metal adsorption onto the ionic imprinted polymer were found to be a pH of 8.0, a temperature of 30 °C, a concentration of 0.03 g/100 mL, and a contact time of 50 min. Based on the ANOVA statistical value, the adsorption of Cu ion on IIP is significant with very low probability (p) values (<0.001). The Langmuir isotherm model and a second-order reaction were both used in the adsorption process. According to thermodynamic characteristics, Cu adsorption over IIPs and NIP was an endothermic, spontaneous process. Compared to NIP, the imprinted polymer exhibits a significantly better capacity and selectivity for Cu adsorption, the maximum removal percentage of IIPs and NIP was 96.02 % and 74.3 % respectively. Moreover, the research showed that ion imprinting can be a promising technique for preparing selective adsorbents to separate and preconcentrate metal in a medium of multiple competitive metals (Co, Cd, Ni, Zn, Fe, and Pb) The most important point for this new Cu-IIPs was shown superior reusability up to 8 cycles with small decrees in uptake capability.