Capture and sensing of anionic pollutants from aqueous environmental samples

Within wastewater systems, there are a large number of anionic pollutants that are of interest, however within this work only a few were examined, with a main focus on both phosphate and glyphosate. It is thought that the findings within this work could then be applied towards other pollutants as an appropriate starting point for further applications and research into a wider range of pollutants.

A range of novel materials for the capture and sensing of anionic pollutants has been successfully demonstrated. The use of chitosan beads for the removal of phosphate from wastewater systems has been studied as a proof of concept with the ability to remove ~10% of the phosphate present in effluent waste water. The use of MIPs for removal of glyphosate and AMPA from water has been examined in significant detail and polymers have been synthesised with a maximum association constant of 107.2 µmol g-1 for glyphosate and 82.45 µmol g-1 for AMPA.