Preparation of Cr(VI)-imprinted polypropylene nonwoven fibers using plasma polymerization-assisted grafting

Polypropylene (PP) fibers were grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) using plasma polymerization and then aminated, imprinted, and crosslinked to prepare Cr(VI)-imprinted fibers. The plasma polymerization conditions were optimized by single factor experiment and response surface methodology, and various properties and adsorption mechanism of the fibers were analyzed. The results showed that at pH 3, the imprinted fibers had a maximum Cr(VI) adsorption capacity of 173.36 mg/g, and the adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 40 min. In the presence of competing ions (SO42-, NO3- and PO43-) each at a concentration of 5 times of that of Cr(VI), the Cr(VI) adsorption rate of the fibers could be maintained at around 50%, which indicates that the imprinted fibers have high selectivity towards Cr(VI). The results also showed that the imprinted fibers had good reusability and enrichment ability, thus can be a good candidate for treating actual Cr(VI)-contaminated water.