Magnetic ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) ternary nanocomposite microgel as selective adsorbent for removal of heavy metals from wastewater

Magnetic attapulgite/fly ash/poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) (ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM)) ternary nanocomposite microgels were designed via an inverse suspension copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) in liquid paraffin with span-80 as stabilizer, in which attapulgite (ATP) and fly ash (FA) were used to develop a rigid inorganic skeleton, while the soft and elastic poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) (Poly(AA-co-AM)) blocks were grafted onto the rigid inorganic skeleton to form the beadlike ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) microgels with a 3-D network, validating the expected performance. The magnetic ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) microgels showed a certain magnetic characteristic and good adsorption capacity to heavy metal ions, especially to Pb2+. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.