Flame photometric determination of cesium ion after its preconcentration with nanoparticles imprinted with the cesium-dibenzo-24-crown-8 complex

We report on the synthesis of cesium ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles that were prepared by a precipitation polymerization strategy using dibenzo-24-crown-8 ether as a selective crown ether, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker, and AIBN as the radical initiator. The prepared sorbents have a diameter of 50-90 nm and display highly selective binding capability for Cs(I) ion, with rapid adsorption and desorption. The maximum adsorption capacity is 50 mg g(-1), and the preconcentration factor is around 100 at pH 9.0. Cesium ion was then determined by flame photometry with a detection limit (3 sigma) of 0.7 ng mL(-1) and with a standard deviation of 0.9 %.