Water-compatible halloysite-imprinted polymer by Pickering emulsion polymerization for the selective recognition of herbicides

A water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared by Pickering emulsion polymerization using halloysite nanotubes as stabilized solid particles. During polymerization, we used 4-vinylpyridine as monomer, divinylbenzene as cross-linking agent, toluene as porogen, 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid as template to form the oil phase, and Triton X-100 aqueous solution to form the water phase. The halloysite nanotubes molecularly imprinted polymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Kinetic and equilibrium bindings were also employed to evaluate the adsorption properties of the imprinted polymer. The imprinted polymer showed better selectivity, more rapid kinetic binding (60 min) for 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in pure water compared with rebinding in toluene. The imprinted polymer was used as a sorbent to enrich and separate 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid from water, and was detected by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection.