Amphiphilic block co-polymer infused bismuth vanadate as an adsorbent for azo-rubine dye: Synthesis, characterization and application studies

Dye pollution is one of the major concern in this modern society. This communication aims to synthesize a high-functionality adsorbent for the detoxification of discharged dyes. Here we report, a polymeric material derived from a kind of amphiphilic block co-polymer (stearylmethacrylate -b- acryl amide) infused Bismuth Vanadate (BiVO 4 ) prepared on the basis of SET-LRP method, which makes the water free from such kind of toxic material by simple binding. Well-defined amphiphilic block copolymer was effectively synthesized via living radical polymerization (LRP) on the surface of stearyl methacrylate (SMA) possessing hydrophilic groups as monomer in presence of Copper(0) as catalyst. The process exhibited characteristics of a controlled radical polymerization, as indicated by the linear kinetic plot of versus conversion, despite some loss of chain-end control at higher conversions. The amphiphilic block copolymer was successfully synthesized and generally characterized by GPC and in addition, TGA, 1 H NMR provides confirmational evidence for the synthesized block copolymer. The results indicate that the polymeric material immobilized with different % of BiVO 4 displayed excellent sorption capacity for the specific organic dye. Contact angle measurements provide additional evidence for the wettability and sorption. The high initial removal capacity of the organic dye is primarily facilitated by the hydrophobic domains of the polymer matrix, while electrostatic interactions and π–π* stacking between the dye and the polymer functional groups may also serve as secondary contributing factors. Results demonstrated that the polymer-infused BiVO₄ exhibited significantly improved adsorption performance compared to pristine BiVO₄, owing to synergistic interactions between the inorganic matrix and amphiphilic polymer chains.