Electroless recovery of gold chloride using inherently conducting polymers

Conducting polymers deposited onto reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) were shown to remove gold from aqueous solutions in a facile and highly efficient fashion. For acidic solutions with initial [AuCl4]− concentrations between 0.1 and 1000 ppm, gold recoveries >90% were obtained. Experiments, conducted using solutions containing 0.1 ppm [AuCl4]−, also demonstrated that the composite materials were significantly more effective at recovering gold than activated carbon. Gold removal from solutions containing [AuCl4]− and much higher concentrations of iron was highly selective.