Abstract: An unfamiliar functional monomer 2-(Allylmercapto) nicotinic acid (ANA), which contains both N and S groups that have a strong coordinating ability with nickel ions, is used for imprinting Ni(II). The obtained Ni(II) ion-imprinted polymer (Ni-IIP) shows a fast uptake ability for the removal of Ni(II), and its adsorption equilibrium time is less than 20 min. The maximum Ni(II) adsorption capacity of Ni-IIP is found to be 38.85 mg/g, that is, more than double that of non-imprinted polymer (Ni-NIP) (18.38 mg/g), at a temperature of 30 -ŚC and optimum pH of 6. Additionally, the adsorption is a spontaneous and endothermic process according to the obtained thermodynamic parameters. Besides, Ni-IIP shows excellent selectivity factors of 33.63, 219.59, 4.23, 16.89 and 32.74 for Ni2+/Zn2+, Ni2+/Mg2+, Ni2+/Co2+, Ni2+/Cd2+ and Ni2+/Cu2+, respectively. Moreover, the Ni-IIP used is stable because the adsorption capacity is 82.7% of the initial saturation binding capacity up to the 5th cycle. Most notably, the application of Ni-IIP in wastewater samples shows a high removal efficiency for Ni(II) of more than 93.4%. The results indicate that the Ni-IIP is an effective adsorption material, allowing for the selective removal of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions at high efficiency
Template and target information: nickel ions, Ni(II)
Author keywords: Ion-imprinted polymer, 2-(Allylmercapto) nicotinic acid, Ni(II), selective adsorption