A versatile bio-based material for efficiently removing toxic dyes, heavy metal ions and emulsified oil droplets from water simultaneously

- A versatile bio-based material was prepared by a simple method.
- Various kinds of pollutants could be simultaneously removed from water.
- The removal efficiency of this material was high.
- This material could be recycled for 10 times without reduction of efficiency.

Developing versatile materials for effective water purification is significant for environment and water source protection. Herein, a versatile bio-based material (CH-PAA-T) was reported by simple thermal cross-linking chitosan and polyacrylic acid which exhibits excellent performances for removing insoluble oil, soluble toxic dyes and heavy metal ions from water, simultaneously. The adsorption capacities are 990.1 mg g−1 for methylene blue (MB) and 135.9 mg g−1 for Cu2+, which are higher than most of present advanced absorbents. The adsorption towards organic dyes possesses high selectivity which makes CH-PAA-T be able to efficiently separate dye mixtures. The stable superoleophobicity under water endows CH-PAA-T good performance to separate toluene-in-water emulsion stabilized by Tween 80. Moreover, CH-PAA-T can be recycled for 10 times with negligible reduction of efficiency. Such versatile bio-based material is a potential candidate for water purification.