Simultaneous and Rapid Removal of Organic Micropollutants, Heavy Metal Ions, and Cationic Dyes from Water by a Porous Cyclodextrin Polymer

Porous cyclodextrin polymers (P-CDP) are commonly used for the rapid removal of organic micropollutants from water due to their high specific surface area and mesoporous pores. However, due to the lack of hydrophilic chelating groups at the interface, P-CDP has poor removal performance for heavy metal ions and hydrophilic organic pollutants. In fact, the water resource is often accompanied by a mixture of various types of pollutants (such as organic micropollutants, heavy metal ions, and hydrophilic organic pollutants). Here, we synthesized a multifunctional porous β-cyclodextrin polymer (P-CDP/EDTA) with multiple types of adsorption sites (amino, carboxyl, hydroxyl, cyclodextrin hydrophobic cavities, etc.) by introducing flexible EDTA modifier and rigid benzene ring cross-linking agent. P-CDP/EDTA has high specific surface area (SBET = 76 m2·g–1) and mesoporous pores (1.8–5.0 nm). The adsorption behaviors showed that P-CDP/EDTA can rapidly and high-capacity remove various types of organic micropollutants, hydrophilic organic pollutants, and heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. P-CDP/EDTA has strong anti-ion interference performance and can effectively remove various types of pollutants at environmentally relevant concentrations through flow-through adsorption experiments. Altogether, P-CDP/EDTA represents promising materials for potential use in the rapid and high-capacity removal of various types of pollutants in water, achieving sustainable water purification.