Studies on gum Dammar based composite ion exchanger and their characterization

Gum Dammar and zirconium (IV) Iodooxalate [Gd-cl-poly (AAm)-Zr (IV) Iodooxalate] composite ion exchanger was prepared by incorporating inorganic precipitates of zirconium (IV) iodooxalate into polymeric mixture under vacuum conditions. The polymeric mixture (hydrogel) was prepared using gum Dammar (Gd), acrylamide (AAm) as monomer, N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide as crosslinker and potassium persulphate as initiator. The reaction conditions for synthesis of hydrogel such as time (60 min), temperature (65 °C), pressure (550 mmHg), solvent (5 ml), concentration of monomer (9.72 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹) and cross-linker (1.40 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹), ratio of zirconium oxychloride (0.1 M), potassium iodate (0.1 M) and oxalic acid (0.1 M) in ratio 1:1:1 were optimized to obtain the maximum ion exchange capacity (1.78 meq g⁻¹). The morphology and structure of ion-exchanger were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction data, Thermo gravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis and differential thermo gravimetric analysis. The maximum ion exchange capacity, obtained after the optimized reaction conditions was 1.78 meq g⁻¹. Polymeric-inorganic hybrid material enables the integration of useful organic and inorganic characteristics within a molecular scale composite.