Preparation and characterization of biocompatible molecularly imprinted poly(ionic liquid) films on the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A series of novel protein molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized through a surface molecular imprinting technique by using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a template, acrylamide modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-AAm) as substrates, and allyl-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) as monomers. The MWCNTs@BSA-MIPILs synthesized under different monomer/template/cross-linker ratios were characterized by FTIR, SEM and BET analyses. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm, imprinting effect, selectivity and competitiveness, reusability, and practical applicability were evaluated in detail. The influence of the outside diameters of MWCNTs and the anion types of ILs on the imprinting effect of the MWCNTs@BSA-MIPILs was also studied. The MWCNTs with smaller diameters (