Polysulfone Influence on Au Selective Adsorbent Imprinted Membrane Synthesis with Sulfonated Polyeugenol as...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Environmental Chemistry
• Separation Science

Background:

• Developing selective membranes for metal ion adsorption is crucial for environmental remediation and resource recovery.
• Eugenol-derived sulfonated polyeugenol offers potential as a functional polymer for membrane synthesis.
• Polysulfone serves as a suitable base material for creating functional membranes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and evaluate an ionic imprinted membrane (IIM) for the selective adsorption of gold(III) ions.
• To compare the adsorption performance and selectivity of the IIM against a non-imprinted membrane (NIM).
• To determine the selectivity of the IIM for gold(III) in the presence of other metal ions (Cd, Cu, Fe).

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of an ionic imprinted membrane (IIM) using sulfonated polyeugenol and polysulfone.
• Characterization of membrane pore sizes (IIM: 0.767 μm, NIM: 0.853 μm).
• Evaluation of gold(III) adsorption and selectivity in single and mixed metal ion solutions (Au/Cd, Au/Cu, Au/Fe).

Main Results:

• The optimized IIM incorporated 3.84 g of polysulfone, achieving pore sizes suitable for gold adsorption.
• IIM exhibited significantly higher selectivity for Au(III) compared to NIM across all tested binary mixtures.
• Selectivity values for Au(III) in Au/Cd, Au/Cu, and Au/Fe mixtures were 36.265, 6.886, and 8.489 for IIM, respectively, versus lower values for NIM.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized ionic imprinted membrane demonstrates superior selectivity for gold(III) ion adsorption over non-imprinted membranes.
• The IIM shows promise for selective recovery of gold(III) from complex aqueous matrices.
• Functionalized polyeugenol-based membranes offer an effective platform for targeted metal ion separation.