Selective Separation and Removal of Toxic Heavy Metal Ions from Water by Magnetic Ion-imprinted Nano Polymers

Heavy metal ions are one of the major living environment and water pollutants that may cause several diseases in humans. Removal of heavy metal ions from industrial wastewaters and drinking water is a serious challenge in industrial wastewater treatment. One of the simplest, cheapest, and most selective methods for removal of heavy metal ions is magnetic separation by magnetic ion-imprinted polymers (MIIPs). In this method, the surface of magnetic nanoparticles is coated by a polymer in order to target ions to imprint on nanoparticle surface. By eluting the imprinted ions, cavities with the exact template of these ions are created that can be used for selective removal of target ions. In this review article, the synthesis methods of magnetic ion-imprinted polymers and their application in removal of heavy metal ions are studied. The effect of different functional groups and analytical parameters on the adsorption capacity and the selectivity of the synthesized polymers for target metal ion are investigated.