Characterization of binding properties of silver ion-imprinted polymers with equilibrium and kinetic models

The scope of this study is to characterize the binding properties of two ion-imprinted polymers (IIPs), which they were synthesized for the selective binding of silver ions from aqueous solutions. The synthesis of IIPs was based on an already widely known procedure using 4-Vinylpyridine or 1-Vinylimidazole as functional monomers. At first, the pH-effect on rebinding (adsorption) experiments was investigated. Based on the experimental equilibrium data, many fittings were done to Langmuir, Freundlich, and Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm equations in order to select the most suitable model. A detailed affinity distribution analysis was set up for the investigation of IIPs heterogeneity. Some typical selective experiments were carried out just only to confirm the existed selectivity of the IIPs. The investigation of kinetic behavior of IIPs was evaluated running kinetic experiments and fitting the experimental results to pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations.