Spherical polystyrene-supported chitosan thin film of fast kinetics and high capacity for copper removal

In order to accelerate the kinetics and improve the utilization of the surface active groups of chitosan (CS) for heavy metal ion removal, sub-micron-sized polystyrene supported chitosan thin-film was synthesized by the electrostatic assembly method. Glutaraldehyde was used as cross-linking agent. Chitosan thin-film was well coated onto the surface of the polystyrene (PS) beads characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). Their adsorption toward Cu(II) ions was investigated as a function of solution pH, degree of cross-linking, equilibrium Cu(II) ions concentration and contact time. The maximum adsorptive capacity of PS-CS was 99.8 mg/g in the adsorption isotherm study. More attractively, the adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 10 min, which showed superior properties among similar adsorbents. Continuous adsorption-desorption cyclic results demonstrated that Cu(II)-loaded PS-CS can be effectively regenerated by a hydrochloric acid solution (HCl), and the regenerated composite beads could be employed for repeated use without significant capacity loss, indicating the good stability of the adsorbents. The XPS analysis confirmed that the adsorption process was due to surface complexes with atoms of chitosan. Generally, PS beads could be employed as a promising host to fabricate efficient composites that originated from chitosan or other bio-sorbents for environmental remediation.