Heavy metal wastewater poses a significant environmental challenge due to its harmful effect on organisms and difficult biodegradation. To address this issue, hydrogel has been used as a promising solution for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in water, offering advantages such as low cost, simple design, and environmental friendliness. In this study, we synthetized a novel poly-acrylamide/acrylic acid/vinyl imidazole bromide (PAM/AA/[Vim]Br2) hydrogel as an effective adsorbent for the removal of NiII, CuII, ZnII, and CrIII from water. The structure of the hydrogel was characterized by using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). By exploring various parameters such as monomer ratio, neutralization degree, crosslinking agent addition amount, and initiator addition amount, the highest swelling ratio of the PAM/AA/[Vim]Br2 hydrogel reached 40,012%. One of the notable aspects of this study lay in the investigation of the adsorption behavior of the hydrogel towards heavy metal ions at different concentrations. The adsorption isotherm calculations and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed distinct adsorption mechanisms. At low concentrations, the hydrogel exhibits a multilayer physical adsorption mechanism, with heavy metal ion removal rates exceeding 80%; while at high concentrations, it demonstrates a monolayer chemical adsorption mechanism, with heavy metal ion removal rates above 90%. This dual mechanism approach distinguishes our study from previous reports on the removal of heavy metal ions using hydrogels and shows good ion adsorption efficiency at both high and low concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to explore the removal of heavy metal ions from water using hydrogels with such intriguing dual mechanisms. Overall, the utilization of the PAM/PAA/[Vim]Br2 hydrogel as an adsorbent for heavy metal ion removal presents a promising and innovative approach, contributing to the development of environmentally friendly solutions for heavy metal wastewater treatment.
Keywords: crosslinking agent; heavy metal ions; hydrogels; ionic liquid.