Catechol-containing acrylic Poly(ionic liquid) Hydrogels as Bioinspired Filters for Water Decontamination

Abstract

Mussel inspired catechol containing materials have currently drawn great attention as biomaterials, adhesives, surface coating and in bioelectronics, among other applications. In this work, we mimicked the ability of mussels as water filtration systems to adsorb organic and inorganic contaminants. For this purpose, the synthesis of biomimetic hydrogels was carried out based on the co-polymerization of a new ionic monomer, dopamine methacrylic salt (iDA) with a series of water soluble methacrylate monomers by visible light photopolymerization. The iDA ionic monomer is highly water soluble as compared to previous reported monomers containing catechol groups. This allows its incorporation into different acrylic hydrogels in concentrations up to 50 % mol of monomers containing catechol groups, leading to functional materials with variable morphology and swelling properties. The hydrogels displayed to be highly effective for the removal of heavy metals such as As(V) and Cr(VI) with very good effectiveness compared to other natural sorbents commonly employed, such as clays. Besides, these catechol functional poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels were evaluated in the removal also of other pollutants such as organic dyes with different charge. Preliminarily results demonstrate the versatility of these materials that combine catechol and ionic chemistry for the absorption of a wide variety of water pollutants.