Selective Removal and Recovery of Cu2+ From Complex Water via Asymmetric Electrochemical Separation System
Abstract
Industrial wastewater pollution and resource shortage are major issues affecting environmental sustainability today. Copper, a critical metal, is also a prevalent heavy metal contaminant in aquatic environment. Selective extraction/recovery of low-concentration Cu2+ from wastewater remains a hurdle. Herein, we develop an asymmetric electrochemical separation system to selectively capture Cu2+ from complicated water with the composite of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCS) serving as cathode. By taking advantage of their synergistic effects, the HMCS@COF with suitable component proportion enables good electrical conductivity, fast ion movement, and full exposure of Cu2+ capture sites, achieving 97% Cu2+ removal and a Cu2+/Na+ selectivity of 10.54 at 1.2 V in 20 mg L-1 Cu2+ and 100 mg L-1 Na+ with additional involvement of minor electrodeposition route. Even in mixed solutions containing various metal ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, Fe3+), it maintains high removal efficiency and selectivity for Cu2+. Moreover, satisfactory regenerability and stability are displayed over continuous operational cycles. The remarkable preferential removal of Cu2+ is also demonstrated by theoretical calculations. This work provides a new route for the selective removal of Cu2+ and offers the potential for copper recovery from wastewater containing multiple metals.
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