Magnetically derived fabrication of aligned porous poly(sulfonated polystyrene-co.-chitosan) monolith as a high efficient adsorbent for metal ions separation

Designing and tuning towards the porous structure of adsorbents is of great importance for promoting the adsorptive performance. Herein, a magnetic-induced copolymerization method is applied to generate an aligned porous structure in the aligned porous poly(SPS-co.-CTS) monolith. Typically, the aligned macropores primarily derives from the equilibrium of the magnetic dipolar force to the thermodynamic Brown force by tuning the applied magnetostatic field intensity to 25 mT. Due to the aligned macroporous structure, the monolith features with low back pressure, low mass transfer resistance and high adsorptive capacity. The hydrophilicity of the monolith surface is further improved by capping chitosan activated by amino onto its porous surface via the Hinsber reaction. Detail analyses are performed by a series of physical characterizations, by which exhibit the aligned macropores centering at 5.18 μm, specific surface reaching 54 m2 g−1 and large porosity. Finally, batch adsorption experiments confirm that the adorptive behaviors to Cu2+ ions and Co2+ ions submit to the Langmuir model and Pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics. Most intriguing, the film mass transfer ([kLa]f) has been stabilized due to the aligned macropores, thus facilitating the porous diffusion ([kLa]d) and improving the chromatographic performance of the monolith. All results demonstrate that the aligned porous poly(SPS-co.-CTS) monolith promises broad applications in the field of wastewater remediation.