Fabrication, characterization and antimicrobial activity of polyaniline Th(IV) tungstomolybdophosphate nanocomposite material: Efficient removal of toxic metal ions from water

Polyaniline Th(IV) tungstomolybdophosphate (PANI/TWMP) nanocomposite ion exchanger was prepared via sol-gel method by mixing polyaniline gel into the inorganic precipitates of Th(IV) tungstomolybdophosphate (TWMP). The PANI/TWMP nanocomposite ion exchanger was well characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. Thermal stability, elution behavior, effect of eluent concentration and pH titrations curves of PANI/TWMP were also investigated. The study revealed that PANI/TWMP nancomposite had higher ion exchange capacity (1.07meq/g) compared to its inorganic counterpart TWMP (0.78meq/g) and organic counterpart PANI (0.30meq/g). The PANI/TWMP nanocomposite ion exchanger was found thermally stable and retained 53.27% ion exchange capacity upto 400°C. On the basis of selectivity studies, some important binary separations were also achieved to explore the potential application of PANI/TWMP in the environmental analysis of toxic heavy metals. PANI/TWMP was also effectively used in separations of Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions from synthetic mixtures of metal ions. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.