Synthesis and application of ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the extraction and preconcentration of copper ions in environmental water samples

Novel Cu(II) ion-imprinted polymers (Cu-IIP) nanoparticles were prepared by using Cu(II) ion-thiosemicarbazide complex as the template molecule and methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and 2,2'azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the functional monomer, cross-linker, and the radical initiator, respectively. The synthesized polymer nanoparticles were characterized by using infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. Some parameters such as pH, weight of the polymer, adsorption time, elution time, eluent type, and eluent volume which affect the extraction efficiency of the polymer were studied. In the proposed method, the maximum sorbent capacity of the ion-imprinted polymer was calculated to be 38.8mg g(-1). The preconcentration factor, relative standard deviation, and limit of detection of the method were found to be 80, 1.7 %, and 0.003 mu g mL(-1), respectively. The prepared ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles have an increased selectivity toward Cu (II) ions over a range of competing metal ions with the same charge and similar ionic radius. The method was applied to the determination of ultra trace levels of Cu2+ in environmental water samples with satisfactory results.