Synthesis and characterization of Hg(II)-ion-imprinted polymer and its application for the determination of mercury in water samples

A novel Hg(II) ion imprinted polymer (IIP) was synthesized by bulk polymerization using the Hg(II) ion as a template, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) as a monomer, 8-hydroxyquinoline as a specific ligand for Hg(II), and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a crosslinker. The Hg(II) IIP was systematically characterized by adsorption tests, FTIR spectroscopy, pore size analysis and SEM studies. Under the optimized condition, the maximum adsorption of Hg(II) IIP was 143.8 mg g(-1), nearly three times higher than that of the non ion-imprinted polymer (NIP) (52.6 mg g(-1)). The synthesized Hg(II) IIP had a good selectivity for the Hg(II) ion compared with other ions. The trace amounts of Hg(II) in tap water and river water samples were measured by the sequential injection-vapor generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (SI-VG-AFS) in a linear range of 0.01(-1) mu g L-1, with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.005 mu g L-1.