A revolutionizing polymeric framework with integrated aluminium fragment for superior water decontamination empowered by a statistical modeling approach

Abstract

Herein, a unique methodology is adopted to prepare aluminium-integrating polymeric fragment, i.e. poly(aluminium trimethacrylate) (pAlTMA), with the potential to be a viable alternative to activated alumina (AA) and suitable for a diverse array of water treatment applications. The prepared pAlTMA has shown significantly high adsorption efficacies (q_{e max}) of 421.94 mg g⁻¹, 9.25 mg g⁻¹, and 8.60 mg g⁻¹ for fluoride (F⁻), arsenate [As(V)] and arsenite [As(III)] respectively, owing to the presence of the acrylate chain of the aluminum moiety in the three-dimensional shape, coupled with high surface area [surface area: 278 m² g⁻¹ and pore volume: 0.281 cm³ g⁻¹]. The pAlTMA exhibited a significant remediating efficacy of >97% for the ionic species across a broad pH spectrum. The binding energies for F⁻, As(III) and As(V) were 19.1 eV, 13.1 eV, and 9.6 eV, respectively, according to a density functional theory (DFT) study, which elucidated the mechanisms of interaction between pAlTMA and these ionic species. The experimental data analysis revealed that the nonlinear Langmuir isotherm (R² > 0.99) and pseudo-second-order kinetics (R²: 0.9960, 0.9979, and 0.9934 for As(V), As(III), and F⁻ ions, respectively) effectively characterize the sorption phenomena of pAlTMA. The Response Surface Methodology–Central Composite Design (RSM-CCD) model was utilized in the experimental design and optimization process to ascertain the optimal conditions of operational variables, aimed at maximizing the remediation efficiency for arsenic and fluoride ions.