Ion-imprinted chitosan gel beads for selective adsorption of Ag⁺ from aqueous solutions

In this study, the Ag(+)-imprinted chitosan gel beads were synthesized to selectively adsorb Ag(+) from bimetallic aqueous solutions containing the same molar concentration of Ag(+) and Cu(2+). The Ag(+)-imprinting not only helps to achieve extremely high selectivity of Ag(+), but also enhances the uptake capacity of the target Ag(+) by protecting some amine groups, the primary binding sites of metal ions from cross-linking. The maximum uptake of Ag(+) by the ion-imprinted chitosan beads was found to be 89.20 mg g(-1) at 25.0°C with an initial Ag(+) concentration of 352.95 mg L(-1) and the biosorbent dosage of 1.0 g L(-1). The adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of Ag(+) by the ion-imprinted chitosan beads can be better described by Langmuir isotherm and the intraparticle diffusion model. FTIR and XPS analyses suggested that amine functional groups involve the binding of Ag(+) via complexation at higher solution pH (3.0 ≤ pH ≤ 5.0) and ion exchange at lower solution pH (1.0 ≤ pH < 3.0).