Synthesis and characterization of a surface-grafted Cd(II) ion-imprinted polymer for selective separation of Cd(II) ion from aqueous solution

A novel Cd(II) ion-imprinted polymer (Cd(II)-IIP) was prepared with surface imprinting technology by using cadmium chloride as a template and allyl thiourea (ATU) as a functional monomer for on-line solid-phase extraction of trace Cd(II) ion and selective separation Cd(II) ion in water samples. The Cd(II)-IIP exhibited good chemical performance and thermal stability. Kinetics studies showed that the equilibrium adsorption was achieved within 8.0 min and the adsorption process can be described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Compared to the Cd(II) non-imprinted polymer (Cd(II)-NIP), the Cd(II)-IIP had a higher adsorption capacity and selectivity for Cd(II) ion. The maximum adsorption capacities of the Cd(II)-IIP and Cd(II)-NIP for Cd(II) were 38.30 and 13.21 mg g−1, respectively. The relative selectivity coefficients of the adsorbent for Cd(II) in the presence of Cu2+, Ni2+, Co2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ were 2.86, 6.42, 11.50, 9.46 and 3.73, respectively. In addition, the Cd(II) ion adsorbed was easy to remove from sorbent and the Cd(II)-IIP exhibited good stability and reusability. The adsorption capacity had no obvious decrease after being used six times. The accuracy of this method was verified by the standard reference material, it was then applied for cadmium ion determination in different types of water samples.