Polypropylene fiber grafted calcium alginate with mesoporous silica for adsorption of Bisphenol A and Pb2+

Polypropylene grafted calcium alginate with mesoporous silica (PP-g-CaAlg@SiO 2 ) for adsorbing Bisphenol A (BPA) and Pb 2+ was prepared by calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) crosslinking and hydrochloric acid solution treatment. The PP-g-CaAlg@SiO 2 was characterized by SEM, TEM , BET, XRD, FTIR and TG. PP-g-CaAlg@SiO 2 exhibited excellent adsorption capacity for BPA and Pb 2+ , because the formation of reticulated nanorod structure increased its specific surface area. Subsequently, the adsorption behaviours of BPA and Pb 2+ , including adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetics , were investigated. Afterward, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were performed to explore the adsorption mechanism. The results indicated that hydrogen bonding played the leading role in the adsorption of BPA, while the bonding of Pb 2+ to carboxyl group binding sites was the focus of Pb 2+ adsorption. In addition, the adsorption capacity of PP-g-CaAlg@SiO 2 was stable over 10 cycles.