Poly(O-Toluidine)/Zirconium-based nanocomposite ion-exchangers for Water treatment and environmental remediation

A three-component nanocomposite Poly(O-Toluidine) Zr(IV) based ion exchangers are synthesized by the sol-gel method and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, ion exchange studies, conductivity, and antimicrobial studies. The organic polymeric part of the composites provides mechanical and chemical stability whereas the inorganic part supports the ion-exchange behavior, thermal stability and also increases the electrical conductivity due to the good ion-exchange behavior of Zirconium (IV) molybdophosphate and Zirconium(IV) iodovanadate. The nanocomposite of POT/ Zr(IV) Zirconium(IV) iodovanadate exhibited an excellent ion exchange capacity value for Na+ is 4.84meq g ^−1 and POT/Zr(IV molybdophosphate ionexchanger has the value 4.84meq/g. While compared to other nanocomposite ion-exchangers both the ion –exchangers have significant and effective ion-exchange behavior. From the sorption studies and the distribution coefficient values, both the composite ion exchangers show maximum selectivity towards Pb^2+. They can conjugate the mechanical properties of the organic polymers with intrinsic properties of the inorganic ion exchangers creating a new class of organic-inorganic nanocomposite materials with improvement in thermal stability and good electrical conductivity, ion – exchange capacity and showed higher antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus saprophitocus, which leads to their usage for environmental remediation like water purification. POT/Zr(IV) molybdophosphate and POT/Zr(IV) iodovanadate nanocomposite ion exchangers were used as promising ion exchangers and applied as an electrochemically switchable ion exchanger for water treatment, especially water softening.