Magnetic Gels for Heavy Metal Adsorption

MARÍA PÍA AREAL; MARÍA FERNANDA HORST; VERÓNICA LASSALLE; VERA ALVAREZ; JIMENA GONZÁLEZ

Conferencia; 6th International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials.COMAT; 2015

Exposure to heavy metals, even at trace level, has been linked with risk for human beings. To effectively remove heavy metals from water, magnetic polymer adsorbents, especially ferrogels, have received great attention recently. Magnetic gels or ferrogels were prepared using arabic gum-coated magnetic nanoparticles (GA-MNPs) and poly (acrylic acid)-coated magnetic nanoparticles (PAA-MNPs) dispersed in Poly (vinyl alcohol) gels. The cross-linking was carried out by freezing-thawing (F-T). The as-prepared materials as well as the nanoparticles were characterized by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Electronic Microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction, Z potential (ζ), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and magnetic properties. Additionally, the performance of these gels as heavy metal adsorbents was evaluated. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out using Cd+2 and Cu+2 as models. Substantially promissory heavy metals adsorption behaviour was found using both ferrogels.