Synthesis of zero-valent copper-chitosan nanocomposites and their application for treatment of hexavalent chromium

This study used ionotropic crosslinking to synthesize chitosan-tripolyphosphate chelating resin beads, which are used to fabricate zero-valent copper-chitosan nanocomposites. The copper nanoparticles were dispersed on chitosan-tripolyphosphate beads, and were thus able to maintain appropriate dispersion and stability, which greatly improves their applicability. The fabrication process contains two steps: using chitosan-tripolyphosphate beads to adsorb Cu(II) ions, followed by chemical reduction to reduce Cu(II) ions to zero-valent copper. This study explored the adsorption of synthesized chitosan-tripolyphosphate beads to Cu(II) ions, and used SEM/EDS, XPS, and TEM to examine the properties of zero-valent copper-chitosan nanocomposites. The results showed that, the adsorption behavior of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution onto fabricated nanocomposites has better adsorption capacity than that of the chitosan-tripolyphosphate beads.