The removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions by novel pH-sensitive hydrogels

The free radical polymerization of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) and its copolymerization with methylacrylate (MA) were carried out in the presence of a macroinimer to prepare novel hydrogels with different compositions. The network structure and swelling properties of all hydrogels were investigated. The novel hydrogels were used as binding materials for different heavy metal ions such as Cu2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+ from synthetic wastewater at different pH ranges.