Study on the Preparation and Application of Chitosan/Silica Cu(II) Imprinted Microspheres

Abstract Molecularly imprinted polymers are functional polymers for selective recognition of imprinted molecules, which may have a wide range of applications in separation and purification, environmental monitoring, etc. Chitosan has excellent chelation for metal ions, being widely used in food, environmental protection, etc. In this paper, chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres were prepared by using natural product chitosan as functional monomer, silane-doped, Cu(II) as template ion and glutaraldehyde as crosslinking agent. The adsorption properties of the chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres for Cu( II) were studied by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The experimental results showed that the adsorbability of Cu(II) on the chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres was better than that of chitosan/silica non imprinted microspheres. The results of orthogonal test showed that the order of influence on the adsorption capacity of the chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres was chitosan, glutaraldehyde, Cu(II) and silane. Under the optimum conditions, the adsorption capacity of the chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres for Cu(II) could reach 33.38mg/g. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the diameter of the chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres was lower than 3 urn. Chitosan/silica Cu(II) imprinted microspheres were obviously harder than chitosan Cu(II) imprinted microspheres.