Fabrication of magnetic multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer composite for the selective and efficient removal of tetracyclines from water

Highlights

• Magnetic multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer composite was synthesized.

• MIP composite was used as the adsorbent for removal of tetracyclines from water.

• MIP composite showed excellent adsorption selectivity toward tetracyclines.

• MIP composite possessed good reusability.

Abstract

Antibiotic contamination of the water environment has attracted much attention from researchers because of their potential hazards to humans and ecosystems. In this study, a multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) modified mesoporous silica coated magnetic graphene oxide (MGO@MS@MIP) was prepared by the surface imprinting method via a sol-gel process and was used for the selective, efficient and simultaneous removal of tetracyclines (TCs), including doxycycline (DC), tetracycline (TC), chlorotetracycline (CTC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) from water. The synthesized MIP composite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption properties of MGO@MS@MIP for these TCs were characterized through adsorption kinetics, isotherms and selectivity tests. The MIP composite revealed larger adsorption quantities, excellent selectivity and rapid kinetics for these four tetracyclines. The adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic and followed the Freundlich isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The MGO@MS@MIP could specifically recognize DC, TC, CTC and OTC in the presence of some chemical analogs. In addition, the sorption capacity of the MIP composite did not decrease significantly after repeated application for at least five cycles. Thus, the prepared magnetic MIP composite has great potential to contribute to the effective separation and removal of tetracyclines from water.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Tetracyclines / Removal / Adsorption / Molecularly imprinted polymer / Magnetic graphene oxide

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou, China (No. 201803030040), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41272262) and the Major Projects (Natural Science) of Education Department of Guangdong Province, China (261555101).

Electronic Supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1395-5 and is accessible for authorized users.

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