Preparation of zirconium oxy ion-imprinted particle for the selective separation of trace zirconium ion from water

• Zr-IIP by the surface metal ion imprinting technique with a sol–gel process.
• Binding capacity of Zr-IIP is 196.08 μmol g−1, it is 18 times higher than Zr-NIP.
• Zr-IIP shows an efficient selectivity towards imprinted Zr(IV) in water phase.

Zr(IV) oxy ion-imprinted particle (Zr-IIP) was prepared using the metal ion imprinting technique in a sol–gel process on the surface of amino-silica. The dosages of zirconium ions as imprinted target, (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) as a functional monomer and teraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a cross-linker were optimized. The prepared Zr-IIP and Zr(IV) oxy ion non-imprinted particle (Zr-NIP) were characterized. pH effect, binding ability and the selectivity were investigated in detail. The results showed that the Zr-IIP had an excellent binding capacity and selectivity in the water. The equilibrium data fitted well to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and the Langmuir model for Zr(IV) binding onto Zr-IIP, respectively. The saturate binding capacity of Zr-IIP was found to be 196.08 μmol g−1, which was 18 times higher than that of Zr-NIP. The sequence of binding efficiency of Zr-IIP for various ions was Zr(IV) > Cu(II) > Sb(III) > Eu(III). The coordination number has an important effect on the dimensional binding capacity. The equilibrium binding capacity of Zr-IIP for Zr(IV) decreased little under various concentrations of Pb(II) ions. The analysis of relative selectivity coefficient (Kr) indicated that the Zr-IIP had an appreciable binding specificity towards Zr(IV) although the competitive ions coexisted in the water. The Zr-IIP could serve as an efficient selective material for recovering or removing zirconium from the water environment.

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