Efficient Ultrasound-Assisted Synthesis of Chemically Supported Anionic Functional Group Ionic Liquids and Its Enhanced Adsorption Performance Towards Vanadium (V).

In this study, the chemically supported ionic liquids (CSILs) were synthesized by ultrasound irradiation (UI) to improve the preparation process and further strengthen the adsorption performance of CSILs towards vanadium (V). The impacts of UI and conventional mechanic stirring (CMS) on the synthesis and adsorption characteristics of polystyrene [1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium][nitrate] (PS[C₄mim][NO₃]) were comparatively investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that ultrasound can dramatically shorten the preparation time from 1920 min to 15 min, and HNO₃ dosage is reduced by 15.79%. Under the same adsorption conditions, the CSILs synthesized by UI achieve the maximal adsorption capacity towards vanadium (V) as 248.95 mg/g at 150 min, while the CSILs processed by CMS reach 223.90 mg/g at 105 min. Particularly, the adsorption capacity of CSILs synthesized by UI can be maintained as 96.42% of the initial value after 10 cycles of adsorption-desorption, while that of CSILs processed by CMS maintain as 94.87%. The adsorption isotherm and kinetics fitting demonstrate that vanadium (V) adsorption by two CSILs is dominated by chemisorption as a single molecular layer. Additionally, the adsorption reaction of vanadium (V) by these two CSILs are both endothermic, and entropy increases. Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, and energy spectrometry analyses prove that PS[C₄mim][NO₃] is successfully prepared by UI and CMS methods, and ultrasound waves will not destroy the intact spherical structure of the support resins. The current work provides a novel insight for the efficient synthesis of CSILs, which is also a potential technique for improving the adsorption performance of the adsorbents towards valuable metals.