The adsorption behaviors of the multiple stimulus‐responsive poly(ethylene glycol)‐based hydrogels for removal of RhB dye

In this article, the multiple stimulus‐responsive organic/inorganic hybrid hydrogels by combining poly(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy) ethyl methacrylate‐co‐oligo (ethylene glycol) methacrylate‐co‐acrylic acid) (PMOA) hydrogel with magnetic attapulgite/Fe₃O₄ (AT‐Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were applied to the removal of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye from wastewater. The adsorption of RhB by the hydrogels was carried out under different external environmental, such as pH, temperature and magnetic‐field. The results showed that the hydrogels still possessed temperature, pH and magnetic‐field sensitivity during the adsorption process, which indicated that the adsorption could be controlled by the hydrogels responsive. The dye adsorption had a significant increment at 30°C and the removal of RhB could reach to over 95%. Besides, the low pH values were also favorable for the RhB adsorption, the removal was over 90% at pH = 4.56. Kinetic studies showed that the pseudo‐second order kinetic model well fitted the experimental data. The rate constant of adsorption was 0.0379 g/mg min. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to the equilibrium adsorption for describing the interaction between sorbent and adsorbate. The maximum K_L and K_F were 2.23 (L/g) and 0.87 (mg/g) at 30°C, respectively. Under the external magnetic‐field, the adsorption rate significantly increased within 250 min and the hydrogels could be separated easily from wastewater. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42244.