Synthesis of an Ion‐Imprinted Degreasing Cotton for the Selective Removal of Cu²⁺ from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

A novel ion‐imprinted degreasing cotton (IIC) was synthesized using a surface imprinting technique for the efficient selective adsorption of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions. The morphological structure of the samples was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and the chemical modification steps were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The maximum adsorption capacity of the IIC and non‐imprinted degreasing cotton (NIC) for Cu2+ was 41.49 mg/g and 19.17 mg/g, respectively, at the optimum pH value of 6. The kinetics studies demonstrated that the adsorption follows a pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model. The dsorption isotherm analysis indicated that the Langmuir adsorption isotherm fits well with the adsorption equilibrium data. Also, the competitive studies show that the IIC has a good selectivity for Cu2+. In addition, the assessment of the reusability of a the IIC was tested for five successive cycles revealed no significant decrease of the adsorption capacity.