Application of molecular templates on magnetic particles for adsorption and desorption of heavy metals
This study investigated the production of novel molecular templates, and analyze their adsorption effect on four heavy metal ions (Cu+2, Pb+2, Zn+2, Mn+2), which commonly exist in Taiwan's rivers. Different operating conditions (such as competitive adsorption, pH value and other factors) were explored to compare their adsorption effect of heavy metal ions by using the synthesized template molecules. The molecular templates were found to be specific towards their target metal ions with a high adsorption effect. Then combined with the idea of magnetic particles to produce magnetic molecule templates, a maximum amount of adsorption of heavy metal ions up to 95% through the molecular template was achieved while the effect of heavy metals desorption of up to 83% could be also successfully obtained. Experimental results showed that the magnetic molecule templates did not affect the adsorption of heavy metal ions. Not only can they speed up the recovery time of adsorption but the template molecules can also be collected more efficiently. We also proposed three different applications for the developed molecular templates. The development of magnetic molecular template may provide an affordable, highly-efficient way for dealing with heavy metal pollutions.