Fabracation and Characterization of Amidoximated Polyacrylonitrile

An amidoximated polyacrylonitrile copolymer was fabricated and structurally characterized as a heavy metals adsorbent. A copolymer of acrylonitrile (94%) and methylacrylate (6%) with average molecular weight of 100000 was used to produce the amidoximated adsorbent. Amidoximated groups were introduced to the prepared polyacrylonitrile by treatment with hydroxylamine - alcohol solution under reflux. The amidoximated polyacrylonitrile (APAN) adsorbent was characterized by FTIR, SEM and BET. The FTIR spectra indicated that the amidoximation reaction was successfully done. The SEM images showed that the particle size of the APAN copolymer beads became larger than the unmodified PAN copolymer beads. The surface area of the adsorbent before and after the amidoximation process was determined by BET. The surface area of the adsorbent has been decreased after modification with NH2OH∙HCl