Electro-switchable surfaces for heavy metal waste treatment: Study of polyacrylic acid films grafted on gold surfaces

This paper focuses on using electrochemical-pH-switchable polymer films as active surfaces for heavy metal waste treatment. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) was grafted at open air and room temperature on gold substrates. As a broad-range chelating material, PAA can capture heavy metal ions at low concentration. The release of the metal ions from the grafted-PAA film was obtained under electro-induced-acidification by applying an anodic potential at the electrode to promote a localized water electrolysis. Such electrochemical-switchable films can be part of a secondary step-treatment after conventional ion exchange process or precipitation for treatment of aqueous effluents in order to reach very low concentration in heavy metal ions without production of secondary effluents.