The Multi-Challenges of the Multi-Ion-Imprinted Polymer Synthesis

Multi-ion-imprinted polymers (MIIPs) are materials with a wide range of applications mainly focused on environmental recovery, mining, technology, sensors, etc. MIIPs can incorporate ions such as heavy metals, transition metals, rare earth elements, radionuclides, and other types of ions. The chemical structures of MIIPs can be designed for different purposes and with certain morphologies, such as gels, crystals, or powders, and the surface area and porosity are also considered. All these properties provide the material with several desirable characteristics, like high selectivity, high specificity, adequate efficiency, good stability, the possibility of reusability, and strategy technology adaptation. In this review, we show the multitude of challenges of multi-ion imprinted polymer chemical synthesis based on the different and interesting methods reported previously.