Adsorptive removal of methylene blue from aquatic environments using thiourea-modified poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid)

• Published in: Materials
• Main Author: Adeyi A.A.; Jamil S.N.A.M.; Abdullah L.C.; Choong T.S.Y.; Lau K.L.; Abdullah M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067271475&doi=10.3390%2fma12111734&partnerID=40&md5=135d2696e954428064e81609c28d580e

The paper evaluates the adsorptive potential of thiourea-modified poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid), (TA-poly(AN-co-AA)) for the uptake of cationic methylene blue (MB) from aquatic environments via a batch system. TA-poly(AN-co-AA) polymer was synthesized through redox polymerization and modified with thiourea (TA) where thioamide groups were introduced to the surface. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), CHNS and Zetasizer were used to characterize the physico-chemical and morphological properties of prepared TA-poly(AN-co-AA). Afterwards, it was confirmed that incorporation of thioamide groups was successful. The adsorption kinetics and equilibrium adsorption data were best described, respectively, by a pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich model. Thermodynamic analysis showed the exothermic and spontaneous nature ofMB uptake by TA-poly(AN-co-AA). The developed TA-poly(AN-co-AA) polymer demonstrated efficient separation ofMB dye from the aqueous solution and maintained maximum adsorption capacity after five regeneration cycles. The findings of this study suggested that synthesized TA-poly(AN-co-AA) can be applied successfully to remove cationic dyes from aquatic environments. © 2019 by the authors.