Magnetic ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) ternary nanocomposite microgel as selective adsorbent for removal of heavy metals from wastewater

• Magnetic ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) ternary nanocomposite microgels were designed.
• ATP and FA were used to develop a rigid inorganic skeleton to form the 3-D network.
• The ATP/FA/poly(AA-co-AM) microgel showed selective adsorption for Pb2+.
• The ATP/FA/poly(AA-co-AM) microgel had an excellent reusability.

Magnetic attapulgite/fly ash/poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) (ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM)) ternary nanocomposite microgels were designed via an inverse suspension copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) in liquid paraffin with span-80 as stabilizer, in which attapulgite (ATP) and fly ash (FA) were used to develop a rigid inorganic skeleton, while the soft and elastic poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) (Poly(AA-co-AM)) blocks were grafted onto the rigid inorganic skeleton to form the beadlike ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) microgels with a 3-D network, validating the expected performance. The magnetic ATP/FA/Poly(AA-co-AM) microgels showed a certain magnetic characteristic and good adsorption capacity to heavy metal ions, especially to Pb2+.

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