How to Remove Metals from Water with Polymers
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Abstract
Heavy metals in our water sources have been an ongoing contamination issue that has been growing, especially since the industrialization era. Methods such as adsorption have been previously developed to try to remove these metals from the water in the most cost-effective and as efficiently as possible. This research was conducted to investigate the ability of a photo-responsive polymer to bind different metal ions from water. The samples were prepared through dilutions using ethanol-water mix. The spectrophotometer was used for equilibrium and kinetics analysis of the samples. The data was then analyzed as absorbance versus wavelength to determine the spectral peak shifts upon binding. The 0.2 mM of polymer in ethanol-water gave an absorbance of 0.640 at 551 nm under UV irradiation representing the open ionic form, which disappeared upon vis irradiation. This open form in the presence of metals such as copper led to a decrease in absorbance of 0.389 and a peak shift to 505 nm indicating binding. If this research materializes, it could benefit human sustainability of our limited natural resource of usable water, especially for underserved communities.
Bio
Gerardo Lopez, Phoenix Union High School District
Sponsored by
Arizona State University, Nano-Enabled Water Treatment National Science Foundation (NSF) award #EEC-1449500
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Office of STEM Engagement, Rice University, Houston, TX