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. 2024 Apr 10;16(8):1034.
doi: 10.3390/polym16081034.

Three-Dimensional Printed Filters Based on Poly(ethylene glycol) Diacrylate Hydrogels Doped with Silver Nanoparticles for Removing Hg(II) Ions from Water

Luca Burratti  1 , Federica Bertelà  1 , Michele Sisani  2 , Irene Di Guida  2 , Chiara Battocchio  1 , Giovanna Iucci  1 , Paolo Prosposito  3 , Iole Venditti  1
Affiliations

Three-Dimensional Printed Filters Based on Poly(ethylene glycol) Diacrylate Hydrogels Doped with Silver Nanoparticles for Removing Hg(II) Ions from Water

Luca Burratti et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Nowadays, due to water pollution, more and more living beings are exposed to dangerous compounds, which can lead to them contracting diseases. The removal of contaminants (including heavy metals) from water is, therefore, a necessary aspect to guarantee the well-being of living beings. Among the most used techniques, the employment of adsorbent materials is certainly advantageous, as they are easy to synthesize and are cheap. In this work, poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels doped with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for removing Hg(II) ions from water are presented. AgNPs were embedded in PEGDA-based matrices by using a photo-polymerizable solution. By exploiting a custom-made 3D printer, the filters were synthesized. The kinetics of interaction was studied, revealing that the adsorption equilibrium is achieved in 8 h. Subsequently, the adsorption isotherms of PEGDA doped with AgNPs towards Hg(II) ions were studied at different temperatures (4 °C, 25 °C, and 50 °C). In all cases, the best isotherm model was the Langmuir one (revealing that the chemisorption is the driving process and the most favorable one), with maximum adsorption capacities equal to 0.55, 0.57, and 0.61 mg/g, respectively. Finally, the removal efficiency was evaluated for the three temperatures, obtaining for 4 °C, 25 °C, and 50 °C the values 94%, 94%, and 86%, respectively.

Keywords: 3D printing; heavy metal ions filtering; poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogel; silver nanoparticles; surface plasmon resonance; water remediation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Michele Sisani and Irene Di Guida was employed by the company Prolabin & Tefarm S.r.l. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) schematic representation of 3D printer; (b) working principle of the 3D printer based on photopolymerization; (c) schematic drawings of a filter observed from different angles; (d) picture of a filter; and (e) image of optical microscope of a PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys filter (magnification 5×, scale bar 100 µm).
Figure 2
Figure 2
UV-Vis absorption spectra of AgNPs-cit-Lcys (black curve) colloidal solution, PEGDA700 (red line), and LAP solution at the concentration of 0.1% in wt (green curve).
Figure 3
Figure 3
XPS C1s core-level spectra collected on (a) pristine PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys, (b) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water, (c) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water containing 20 mg/L Hg(II).
Figure 4
Figure 4
XPS Ag3d core-level spectra collected on (a) pristine PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys, (b) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water, (c) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water containing 20 mg/L Hg(II), (d) Hg4f spectrum collected on PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water containing 20 mg/L Hg(II).
Figure 5
Figure 5
FT-IR spectra in the 4000–2600 and 2000–400 cm−1 range of (a) pristine PEGDA; (b) PEGDA after 24 h immersion in water; (c) PEGDA after 24 h immersion in water containing 20 mg/L Hg(II); (d) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys; (e) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after 24 h immersion in water; (f) PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys after immersion in water containing 20 mg/L Hg(II). The chemical structure of PEGDA is also shown in the top right corner of the figure.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Plot of adsorption capacity (qe) as a function of equilibrium concentration Ce at different temperatures: (a) T = 4 °C, (b) T = 25 °C, and (c) T = 50 °C; the isotherm best fits are also shown in the graphs: orange line Freundlich and blue line Langmuir models, respectively.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Van’t Hoff plot for the adsorption of Hg(II) on PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys at the temperatures of 4 °C, 25 °C, and 50 °C (black points refer to experimental data, while red line represents the best fit).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of contact time on the Hg(II) adsorption onto PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys (black points), fittings of different kinetic models for Hg(II) adsorption on PEGDA/AgNPs-cit-Lcys: PFO (red line), PSO (blue line) and MO (green line).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Schematic representation of (a) the overall adsorption process; (b) the actual chemisorption process occurring between AgNPs-Lcys and Hg(II) ions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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