Synthesis of a novel tertiary amine chloride type cationic covalent organic framework at room temperature for rapid removal of Cr(Ⅵ).

Persistent toxic heavy metal Cr(Ⅵ) oxyanions is increasingly damaging to the environment and human life safety. In this study, a novel tertiary amine chloride type cationic covalent organic framework with high yield (>95%) was synthesized using a one-step Schiff base reaction by room temperature standing two functional monomers. The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, EDS, FTIR, NMR, PXRD, BET, TGA and pH PZC. And a series of adsorption experiments were conducted to verify the removal effect for Cr(Ⅵ). It exhibited excellent adsorption performance and the adsorption equilibrium time was within 10 min, superior to most adsorbents. The adsorption conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir adsorption isothermal models based on the values of R2 and RMSE in the corresponding four models. The impact of pH was significant, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 161.4 mg/g at a pH of 2. The adsorbent had good adsorption selectivity for Cr(Ⅵ) oxyanions in the presence of coexisting ions (Cl−, SO 4 2−, NO 3 −, and PO 43 −), and good recyclability with only decrease of removal rate from 98.3% to 91.5% after five cycles. The mechanism for Cr(Ⅵ) adsorption was mainly attributed to ion exchange, and hydrogen bonding also played a subordinate role. In the Cr(Ⅵ)-MO binary system, the increase for Cr(VI) adsorption results from the new active sites in methyl orange. This work highlights the mild synthetic conditions, fast adsorption rate, and good adsorption of Cr(Ⅵ), which make it a promising prospect. [Display omitted] • A novel cationic COF was synthesized at room temperature for Cr(Ⅵ) adsorption. • The adsorbent showed rapid adsorption rate and reached equilibrium within 10 min. • The good selectivity to Cr(Ⅵ) anions was got in the presence of competitive ions. • The driving force for Cr(VI) adsorption was ion exchange plus hydrogen bonding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]