Sorption of Salts of Various Metals by Polyelectrolyte Microcapsules

Anthropogenic activity negatively affects the environment by polluting it with the salts of various metals. One of the ways to reduce this influence is to use water purification methods for the salts of various metals. Water purification methods based on nanomaterials are promising. In this regard, we proposed to study polyelectrolyte microcapsules (PMC) as a promising sorption agent for the salts of various metals. It was found that the polystyrene sulfonate-polyallylamine (PSS-PAH) polyelectrolyte complex and polyelectrolyte microcapsules of different compositions are not able to adsorb salts CuSO(4), Pb(NO)(3), FeCl(3), and CuCl(2). At the same time, it was found that all types of capsules, except for (PSS/PAH)(2)/PSS, are capable of sorbing about 420 µg of K(3)[Fe(CN)(6)] and about 500 µg of K(4)[Fe(CN)(6)] from solution. The adsorption of polyelectrolyte microcapsules has an electrostatic nature which is confirmed by increases in the sorption capacity of PMC of K(3)[Fe(CN)(6)] and K(4)[Fe(CN)(6)] with decreases in the pH of the solution. Also, It was confirmed that the sorption process of PMC of K(3)[Fe(CN)(6)] and K(4)[Fe(CN)(6)] is concentration dependent and has the limitation of the number of binding sites.