Synthesis and application of ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the determination of nickel ions

• Novel Ni(II) ion-imprinted polymers (Ni-IIP) nanoparticles were prepared.
• The proposed method is simple, selective and sensitive.
• The method is suitable to the determination of nickel in food and water samples.

Novel Ni(II) ion-imprinted polymers (Ni-IIP) nanoparticles were prepared by using Ni(II) ion–1,5-diphenyl carbazide (DPC) complex as the template molecule and methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the functional monomer, cross-linker and the radical initiator, respectively. The synthesized polymer particles were characterized physically and morphologically by using infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. Some parameters such as pH, weight of the polymer, adsorption time, elution time, eluent type and eluent volume which affects the efficiency of the polymer were studied. The preconcentration factor, relative standard deviation, and limit of detection of the method were found to be 100, 1.9%, and 0.002 μg mL−1, respectively. The prepared ion-imprinted polymer particles have an increased selectivity toward Ni(II) ions over a range of competing metal ions with the same charge and similar ionic radius. The method was applied to the determination of nickel in tomato and some water samples.

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