Structure and properties of magnetic composite sorbents based on hypercrosslinked polystyrenes

Abstract

Magnetic composite sorbents based on microporous and biporous hypercrosslinked polystyrenes (HCPs) with inclusions of iron oxide nanoparticles were studied by X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis. In microporous composites, the size of impregnated magnetite nanoparticles was less than ∼6 nm, the nanocomposites remaining optically transparent. Biporous HCPs (with micro- and macropores) had larger nanoparticles (∼16 nm). The sorption studies revealed that composite magnetic sorbents, as well as the starting hypercrosslinked polystyrenes, are effective adsorbents with high capacity for many compounds including toxic and physiologically active compounds.