Iron carbonyl polymer microspheres for simultaneously high-speed adsorption and desorption of dye-emulsified micelles with frequency manipulation under an alternating electric field

Developing a versatile methodology for high-speed water purification is critical for environmental and water source protection. Traditional adsorption and desorption were determined based on the concentration gradients. Herein, a versatile methodology is reported based on the simple application of an alternating electric field (AEF) on a system including dye-emulsified micelles (DEM) and adsorbents that simultaneously exhibit high-speed adsorption and desorption of DEM by frequency manipulation. Iron carbonyl polymers are incorporated into polystyrene microspheres (PMs) to generate iron carbonyl polystyrene microspheres (ICPMs) as adsorbents, which can vary the affinity with DEM and dielectric properties simultaneously. Both the DEM and microspheres were polarized under the AEF and generated electric dipole moments that could rapidly assemble the DEM and microspheres. Compared with the adsorption through the concentration gradient, the adsorption rate of DEM was enhanced significantly in the presence of an AEF of 20 V at 150 kHz of frequency because of the effect of particle assembly. At 1000 kHz of frequency, the alternative high-speed change between electrostatic attraction and repulsion hindered the adsorption of the dyes, which could also enhance the desorption rate. The ICPMs could be recycled 10 times within 20 min with frequency manipulation in the presence of AEF. This versatile methodology could provide novel insights into the development of high-speed water purification techniques.