Synthesis of Functionalized Polyacrylonitrile Microspheres via Phase Separation and Application in Water Purification
Tian Zhang, Zhongrui Pi, Fangyu Lin, Cong Liu, Jiazhi Zhang, Ling Zhong, Mingyi Shang, Junxiang Ke, Junjie Fan, Yu Chen, Xiao Han, Yanhui LiABSTRACT
The development of polymer adsorbents with excellent adsorption performance and good regenerative capability is of great significance. This study employed a phase separation method to prepare polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microspheres with uniform size. Then, PAN was modified with hydroxylamine hydrochloride to introduce amidoxime groups into the molecular chain via a substitution reaction, yielding functionalized polyacrylonitrile microspheres (PDA). PDA achieved maximum adsorption capacities of 4.2 mg/g for hexavalent chromium ions (Cr(VI)) and 23.14 mg/g for Rhodamine B (RhB) with removal rates of 84.8% and 77.1% at pH = 4, respectively. Compared to PAN, PDA exhibited higher adsorption efficiency for Cr(VI) and RhB, respectively. The adsorption process of Cr (VI) and RhB by PDA mainly involved multilayer adsorption. After five adsorption‐desorption cycles, the adsorption efficiency of the PDA decreased by 7% for RhB and 23% for Cr(VI), respectively. This technology holds potential application value in practical wastewater treatment.