RAFT-mediated microemulsion polymerization to synthesize a novel high-performance graphene oxide-based cadmium imprinted polymer

• A novel graphene oxide-based cadmium-imprinted polymer was firstly prepared.
• The Cd(II)-IIP was synthesized by RAFT-mediated microemulsion polymerization.
• The obtained Cd(II)-IIP has uniform structure and better adsorption performance.

In this paper, a novel graphene oxide (GO)-based cadmium-imprinted polymer (Cd(II)-IIP) was firstly prepared via surface ion imprinted technology (SIIT) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) in microemulsion system. In the polymerization methodology, the RAFT technology was applied to controlling the morphology and functionality of the imprinted polymer. The polymerization was conducted in the microemulsion system to keep stable polymerization process. The obtained Cd(II)-IIP was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, AFM, XRD and TGA, proving to be with uniform morphology, as well as favorable thermal stability. The adsorption properties and selectivity of Cd(II)-IIP towards Cd(II) were investigated, indicating high adsorption capacity, fast mass transfer rate and distinct selectivity upon exposure to complex contaminants. In addition, thermodynamic parameters and adsorption–desorption cycles were all studied to comprehensively assess the adsorbent performance.