Mercury nano-trap for effective and efficient removal of mercury(II) from aqueous solution

Abstract

Highly effective and highly efficient decontamination of mercury from aqueous media remains a serious task for public health and ecosystem protection. Here we report that this task can be addressed by creating a mercury 'nano-trap' as illustrated by functionalizing a high surface area and robust porous organic polymer with a high density of strong mercury chelating groups. The resultant porous organic polymer-based mercury 'nano-trap' exhibits a recordhigh saturation mercury uptake capacity of over 1,000 mg g À 1 , and can effectively reduce the mercury(II) concentration from 10 p.p.m. to the extremely low level of smaller than 0.4 p.p.b. well below the acceptable limits in drinking water standards (2 p.p.b.), and can also efficiently remove 499.9% mercury(II) within a few minutes. Our work therefore presents a new benchmark for mercury adsorbent materials and provides a new perspective for removing mercury(II) and also other heavy metal ions from contaminated water for environmental remediation.

Sulfur‐Limonene Polysulfide: A Material Synthesized Entirely from Industrial By‐Products and Its Use in Removing Toxic Metals from Water and Soil

“…A final concentration of 910 ppb was measured, thus indicating approximately 55 % of the inorganic mercury was removed with a single treatment. While alternative, and highly effective, mercury sensors17 and adsorbents18 have been reported, their deployment in environmental remediation is often limited due to the challenges and cost of their large‐scale synthesis 15a, 16. We note that the sulfur‐limonene polysulfide is comparatively inexpensive, easy to produce on a large scale, and displays a useful chromogenic response.…”

Sulfur‐Limonene Polysulfide: A Material Synthesized Entirely from Industrial By‐Products and Its Use in Removing Toxic Metals from Water and Soil

“…Afinal concentration of 910 ppb was measured, thus indicating approximately 55 %o ft he inorganic mercury was removed with as ingle treatment. While alternative,a nd highly effective,m ercury sensors [17] and adsorbents [18] have been reported, their deployment in environmental remediation is often limited due to the challenges and cost of their large-scale synthesis. [15a,16] We note that the sulfur-limonene polysulfide is comparatively inexpensive,e asy to produce on alarge scale,and displays auseful chromogenic response.…”

A Targeted “Capture” and “Removal” Scavenger toward Multiple Pollutants for Water Remediation based on Molecular Recognition

“…Among all of the existing techniques developed over the past years for water treatment, adsorption has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective and convenient approaches due to its simple operation and energy effectiveness 3. Usually, ideal adsorbents should possess the following features: perfect selectivity,4 multiple adsorbability,5 strong affinity,[[qv: 3c]],6 good reusability,5, 6, 7 no secondary pollution,5, 8 rapid kinetics,9 and high adsorption capacity. [[qv: 3c]] Although many adsorbents have been created, the ideal adsorbent is still to be discovered since some of these features are internally contradictory.…”