Ion imprinted polymers for the selective extraction of silver(I) ions in aqueous media: Kinetic modeling and isotherm studies

Ion imprinted polymers (IIPs) for selective extraction of Ag(I) ions from aqueous solution were synthesized by a precipitation polymerization method using two functional monomers, 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) and 1-vinyl imidazole (1-VID), and N,N-ethylene bisacrylamide (EBAm) as the cross linker. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out as a function of Ag(I) imprinted polymer amount, agitation time, pH and initial Ag(I) concentration. The kinetic studies indicated that pseudo-second-order kinetic model best describes the adsorption behavior, while the adsorption data correlated well with the Langmuir isotherm. Furthermore the selectivity studies revealed that the ion imprinted polymers had a higher absorption capacity and a higher selectivity, for the Ag(I) ions, than the control polymers.