Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels modified with luminescent silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) are synthesized by a photo-crosslinking process. The hybrid material thus obtained is employed to filter Pb(II) polluted water. Under the best conditions, the nanocomposite is able to remove up to 80-90% of lead contaminant, depending on the filter composition. The experimental results indicate that the adsorption process of Pb(II) onto the modified filter can be well modeled using the Freundlich isotherm, thus revealing that the chemisorption is the driving process of Pb(II) adsorption. In addition, the parameter n in the Freundlich model suggests that the adsorption process of Pb(II) ions in the modified hydrogel is favored. Based on the obtained remarkable contaminant uptake capacity and the overall low cost, this hybrid system appears to be a promising sorbent material for the removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous media.
Keywords: PEGDA hydrogel; Pb(II) ions; fluorescent nanoclusters; heavy metal ions filtering; hybrid material; poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate; silver nanoclusters; water remediation.