Facile Synthesis of Poly-Dithiocarbamate for Efficient Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater

A facile strategy was developed to synthesize a poly-dithiocarbamate (PDTC) by a one-pot fabrication process. Its structure was characterized by SEM, FT-IR, NMR, element analysis, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms. The results confirmed PDTC contained a large number of dithiocarbamate functional groups and mesopores. It was used as a sorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. PDTC showed a preferable adsorption performance toward Pb(II) and Cu(II) rather than other dithiocarbamate functionalized polystyrene, styrene-divinylbenzene and active carbon adsorbents. The adsorption kinetics and isothermal equilibriums were fitted particularly well by the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. The applicability of PDTC for industrial wastewater treatment indicated it could efficiently remove 99.4% Pb(II) to 0.0075 ppm, the concentrations of Cu(II), Cr(III), Cd(II), and Zn(II) were all reduced below the limits of the National Standard of China (GB 21900-2008). PDTC showed much higher selectivity toward Pb(II) than other metal ions. The feasible one-pot preparation, low cost and high performance makes the PDTC being promising for practical usage in wastewater treatment.