The environmental pollution caused by microplastics has received extensive attention around the world, and it is of great significance to study the adsorption and desorption of heavy metals by microplastics to clarify the environmental behaviour and toxic effects of heavy metals. In this paper, the adsorption and desorption process and mechanism of microplastics (species, oxygen-containing functional groups, crystallinity, aging state) on copper ions in aqueous solution were studied, and six microplastics were selected, namely refractory microplastics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS), polypropylene (PP) and degradable microplastics polybutylene succinate (PBS) and polybutylene terephthalate-butylene adipate (PBAT). The adsorption results showed that the adsorption capacity of copper ions by six microplastics was arranged as PVC>PBAT> PBS> PS>ABS>PMMA, and the adsorption capacity of copper ions by each microplastic (MPs) after aging was higher than that of its fresh state. The desorption results showed that the larger the adsorption capacity, the greater the desorption amount. The desorption rate of copper ions by PVC, PBS and PBAT was lower than that of PS, ABS and PMMA. The desorption amount and desorption rate of degradable MPs to copper ions were higher than those of refractory MPs. The desorption rate of copper ions by each microplastic after aging is lower than that of fresh state. It shows that refractory microplastics, aging MPs have a stronger carrier effect on copper ions. In addition, the adsorption kinetics of copper ions by microplastics mostly conform to the quasi-secondary model, some conform to the quasi-primary model, and the adsorption and desorption isotherms basically conform to the Langmuir and Freundlich models.

Li Min, Miao Jiahui. Adsorption and Desorption Behavior of Microplastics on Copper Ions in Aqueous Solution. Academic Journal of Materials & Chemistry (2023) Vol. 4, Issue 5: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJMC.2023.040501.

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