Grafting of poly[styrene‐co‐N‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐N,N‐diethylamine] polymer film onto the surface of silica microspheres and their application as an effective sorbent for lead ions

Amino containing polymer of poly[styrene‐ co‐N ‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐ N , N ‐diethylamine] (PS‐ co ‐PVEA) was successfully grafted onto the surface of silica microspheres via the seed dispersion polymerization of styrene and N ‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐ N , N ‐diethylamine in the presence of divinylbenzene employing the 3‐(methacryloxy)propyltrimethoxysilane activated silica microspheres as the seed. The polymerization led to thin chelating polymer films (30 nm) coated silica microspheres (silica@polymer) as determined by transmission electron microscopy. The synthesized silica@polymer composites were used as sorbents for lead ions (Pb 2+ ). The adsorption properties, such as the pH effect, the adsorption kinetic, adsorption isotherm as well as the reuse of the silica@polymer sorbent were evaluated. The results demonstrated that the optimized adsorption condition was under neutral and the silica@polymer sorbent was efficient since it showed higher adsorption amounts (8.0 mg/g) and shorter adsorption equilibrium time (8 h) than that of the PS‐ co ‐PVEA microspheres and the pristine silica microspheres. Moreover, the silica@polymer sorbent was reusable even after four cycles of adsorption. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2014 , 131 , 39973.