Hybrid polymers containing brochantite/tenorite obtained using gel type anion exchanger

A gel type polystyrene/divinylbenzene anion exchanger containing quaternary ammonium groups was used as the macromolecular support for copper(II) compounds deposition, whereby novel hybrid anion exchangers were obtained. The anion exchanger in the OH− form was subjected to two-step transformation. In the first step, after reaction of supporting material with 0.1 mol dm− 3 CuSO4 solution load of Cu4(OH)6SO4 was introduced into the skeleton of the polymeric beads amounting to 60.0 mg Cu g− 1. In the second step, brochantite was converted into CuO using 0.1 mol dm− 3 NaOH solution. The final product contained about 29.0 mg Cu g− 1. Relatively high degree of transformation of brochantite into tenorite was achieved when the wet semi-finished product was introduced into the NaOH solution at ambient temperature. The presence of brochantite and tenorite was confirmed by FTIR and XRD analyses. In the present studies we have shown that gel type matrix of polymeric beads was crucial to the pathway of cupric compounds deposition. Evaluation of sorptive, photocatalytic and biocidic properties of these novel materials will be presented and discussed in separate works.