Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are man-made chemicals that are toxic and widely detected in the environment, including drinking water sources. A cost-effective treatment process for PFASs is currently not available. We developed reusable hydrogel sorbents to remove long- and short-chain perfluoroalkyl acids and 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-(heptafluoropropoxy)propanoic acid (GenX), which is are emerging PFAS. Through fluoridation and amination of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), the newly synthesized sorbents can sorb the five targeted PFASs (perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), and perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and GenX) to different degrees from aqueous solution. Aminated PEGDA showed the highest sorption capacity for all five PFASs, particularly for PFBA and PFBS. The bifunctionalized PEGDA showed higher capacities for PFOA and PFOS, suggesting that both hydrophobic interactions and charges contribute to the sorption. Both aminated and bifunctionalized sorbents can remove GenX from water, with the highest sorption capacity of 98.7 μmol g aminated PEGDA^–1 within 6 h. The absorbed PFASs on the sorbents were observed and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The spent sorbents were reusable after readily regenerated with 70% methanol contained 1% NaCl.

Industrial wastewater often contains heavy metals, like lead, copper, nickel, cadmium, zinc, mercury, arsenic, and chromium. Overdoses of heavy metals will impose a severe threat to human health. Adsorption is the most efficient way of wastewater treatment for eliminating heavy metals. A novel material-reusable hydrogel-based adsorbent was developed in overcoming the regeneration issue. The polyethylene glycol diacrylate-3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt (PEGDA-SMP) hydrogel performed an ion-exchange rate to remove heavy metals from wastewater in 30–120 min. The adsorption capacity of PEGDA-SMP increases the increasing pH of a solution, in which pH 5 reaches the maximum. Pseudo-second-order adsorption and the Langmuir adsorption model can fully describe the adsorption properties of PEGDA-SMP for heavy metals. PEGDA-SMP prefers to exchange Pb²⁺ through K⁺, and its adsorption capacity can achieve 263.158 mg/g. Ag⁺, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺ were 227.27, 117.647, 102.041, and 99.010 mg/g, respectively. The hydrated ionic radius of the heavy metal might play an essential role to affect the adsorption preference. The removal efficiency of heavy metals can approach over 95% for each heavy metal. PEGDA-SMP performs rapid desorption and reaches desorption equilibrium in 15 min. After 10 consecutive adsorption–desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity remained over 90%. The hydrogel developed in this study showed reversible heavy metal absorption. Therefore, excellent adsorption–desorption properties of PEGDA-SMP can be potentially extended to industrial wastewater for removing heavy metals.

This research aimed to create facile, reusable, hydrogel-based anion exchange resins that have been modified with two different amines to test their ability to adsorb nitrate and nitrite in water using batch and continuous systems. In the batch experiment, maximum adsorption capacities of nitrate and nitrite onto poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate methacryloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (PEGDA-MTAC) and poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate 2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (PEGDA-AMHC) adsorbents can be obtained as 13.51 and 13.16 mg NO₃⁻-N/g sorbent; and 12.36 and 10.99 mg NO₂⁻-N/g sorbent respectively through the Langmuir isotherm model. After 15 adsorption/desorption cycles, PEGDA-MTAC and PEGDA-AMHC retained nitrate adsorption efficiencies of 94.71% and 83.02% and nitrite adsorption efficiencies of 97.38% and 81.15% respectively. In a column experiment, modified adsorbents demonstrated adsorption efficiencies greater than 45% after being recycled five times. Proposed hydrogel-based adsorbents can be more effective than several types of carbon-based sorbents for nitrate and nitrite removal in water and have benefits such as reduced waste generation, cost-effectiveness, and a facile synthesis method.

Excessive copper ions in drinking water could cause serious health issues, such as gastrointestinal disorders and cirrhosis, and they are associated with Alzheimer's disease. ICP-OES, ICP-MS, and AAS are the most common methods of copper ion determination. However, the high cost of sample preparation and labor limit the possibility of on-site detection. In this study, rapid monitoring of copper ion through the SERS technique was evaluated. Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–Ag–4MBA nanoparticles were investigated as SERS-activated magnetic nanoprobes. These magnetic nanoprobes underwent superparamagnetism for rapid aggregation in seconds and provided selectivity in sensing copper ions. According to the dose–response curve of the SERS spectra, the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.421 ppm and the dynamic range was from 0.5 to 20 ppm in the presence of other metal ions. Copper ion detection through SERS was highly correlated with ICP-OES (R² = 0.95, slope = 0.974). These results demonstrate that magnetic nanoprobes may ultimately be used in a platform for on-site detection.

A novel polyethylene glycol diacrylate-allylthiourea (ATU-PEGDA) hydrogel was simply synthesized through photo-reaction. Modified thiourea simultaneously employed chelation and electrostatic force to selectively recycle Ag(I) and Pd(II) from electrolytic wastewater. Sorption efficiency was nearly 100% for Ag(I) and Pd(II), which occurred at initial pH of 1 within 300 min. The adsorption characteristics of ATU-PEGDA followed Langmuir isotherm model and the maximum adsorption capacity of Ag(I) and Pd(II) achieved 83.33 and 152.81 mg g⁻¹ sorbent, respectively where Pseudo-first order model demonstrate the adsorption kinetics. In the presence of other heavy metals, ATU-PEGDA performed high selectivity, 0.89 and 1.31 towards Ag(I) and Pd(II). ATU-PEGDA can be completely regenerated within 120 min using 0.5 M thiourea—0.001 M HNO₃ and 1 M thiourea—4 M HCl after the adsorption of Ag(I) and Pd(II), respectively. Thiourea-branched structure was created after regeneration, improving the adsorption capacity. Compared to initial hydrogel, the adsorption capacity of Ag(I) and Pd(II) increased 31.83 ± 3.08% and 75.12 ± 11.02%, respectively. Over 10 consecutive adsorption–desorption cycles, ATU-PEGDA performed 111.34 and 263.79 mg g⁻¹ sorbent in adsorption capacity of Ag(I) and Pd(II). Chromism of ATU-PEGDA hydrogel was a benefit to determine adsorption saturation and completely desorption of Ag(I) and Pd(II). Potentially, ATU-PEGDA can be extended to industrial applications.