Guar Gum-Grafted Terpolymer Hydrogels for Ligand-Selective Individual and Synergistic Adsorption: Effect of Comonomer Composition

Grafting of guar gum (GG) and in situ strategic attachment of acrylamidosodiumpropanoate (ASP) via solution polymerization of acrylamide (AM) and sodium acrylate (SA) resulted in the synthesis of a sustainable GG-g-(AM-co-SA-co-ASP)/GGAMSAASP interpenetrating polymer network (IPN)-based smart superadsorbent with excellent physicochemical properties and reusability, through systematic optimization by response surface methodology (RSM) for removal of methyl violet (MV) and/or Hg­(II). The relative effects of SA/AM ratios, in situ allocation of ASP, grafting of GG into the AMSAASP terpolymer, ligand-selective superadsorption mechanism, and relative microstructural changes in individually/synergistically-adsorbed MV–/Hg­(II)–/Hg­(II)–MV–GGAMSAASPs were determined by extensive analyses using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance, ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis), and O 1s-/N 1s-/C 1s-/Hg 4f_7/2,5/2-X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy and were supported by % gel content, pH_PZC, and % graft ratio. The ionic/covalent-bonding, monodentate, bidentate bridging, and bidentate chelating coordination between GGAMSAASPs and Hg­(II), and MV⁺–Hg­(II) bonding were rationalized by FTIR, UV–vis, fitment of kinetics data to the pseudo-second-order model, and thermodynamic parameters. The maximum adsorption capacities of 49.12 and 53.28 mg g^–1 were determined for Hg­(II) and MV, respectively, under optimized conditions.