An ionic liquid functionalized polymer for simultaneous removal of four phenolic pollutants in real environmental samples

Highlights: • A new IL-P was developed by immobilizing ionic liquid onto silica surface. • The IL-P has excellent adsorption performance to the phenolic pollutants in water. • Hydrogen bond, π-π and electrostatic interactions are the driving force of the IL-P. • The IL-P can remove four phenolic pollutants in real samples simultaneously. -- Abstract: An ionic liquid functionalized polymer (IL-P) was prepared feasibly and simply by grafting1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide onto the silica surface. The IL-P was fully characterized, and the results showed that IL-P has a rough surface with a lower specific surface area (205.49 m² g⁻¹), and the involvement of ionic liquid significantly improved the adsorption performance of IL-P. The pH, initial concentration, adsorption time and temperature were investigated to discuss the adsorption behaviors of IL-P in aqueous solution. The adsorption process of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), bisphenol A (BPA) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) onto IL-P better fitted the pseudo-second-order model, while that of 2-isonaphthol (2-NP) followed the pseudo-first-order model. The adsorption behaviors of IL-P towards 2,4-DCP and 2,4-DNP fitted well with Liu isotherm model, and that of BPA and 2-NP can be described by Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities of 2,4-DCP, BPA, 2,4-DNP and 2-NP bound on IL-P was 239.7, 68.39, 56.86 and 64.28 mg g^-1, respectively, and the adsorption of IL-P is a spontaneous physical process. Comparing with other adsorbent, the as-prepared IL-P showed excellent recognition ability towards the phenolic compounds and can be applied to adsorb and remove trace 2,4-DCP, 2-NP, 2,4-DNP and BPA simultaneously in complicated wastewater and soil samples.