A novel Pb(II)-imprinted IPN for selective preconcentration of lead from water and sediments

A novel adsorbent Pb(II)-imprinted interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) of epoxy resin-triethylenetetramine and lead methacrylate-acrylamide-1, 4-butanedioldiacrylate (BDDA) was synthesized by the metal ionic imprinted polymer (MIIP) technique. The IPN was prepared by in situ sequential polymerization, and the coordination interaction of Pb(II) and functional groups of the IPN adsorbent was discussed using FT-IR spectra. The characters of the IPN were investigated by a series of experiments. The experimental results show that trace Pb(II) ions can be quantitatively preconcentrated at pH 4.0 with recoveries > 95%. The maximum static adsorption capacity of the ion-imprinted adsorbent was 138.6 mg g(-1). The imprinted IPN has a higher adsorption capacity and selectivity towards Pb(II). Moreover, the Pb(II)-imprinted IPN shows superior reusability and stability. The precision (R.S.D.) for 11 replicate adsorbent extractions of 20 ng mL(-1) Pb(II) was 2.9%. The accuracy of the proposed procedure was verified by analysing three standard reference materials. The prepared ion-imprinted IPN adsorbent was applied to three natural samples and also yielded satisfactory results. That is to say, the Pb(II)-imprinted IPN is suitable for environmental Pb(II) ionic selective removal as an SPE adsorbent.