Efficient Removal of Antibiotics From Water via a Novel Magnetic Hypercrosslinked Polymer

The removal of antibiotic residues from environmental media is a significant challenge in the field of chemistry. In this work, we presented a simple and efficient method for eliminating tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and chloramphenicol (CAP) from water. Initially, 1,4-dichlorobenzene and ferrocene were employed as starting materials for the synthesis of hypercrosslinked polymers (HFDs) via Friedel–Crafts alkylation facilitated by a cross-linking agent. Subsequent to this, an efficient magnetic adsorbent material (MHFD) was developed by the in situ oxidation of the iron source incorporated within the polymer matrix of HFDs. The resulting MHFDs demonstrated an impressive maximum Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)–specific surface area of 1190 m²/g and exhibited a peak saturation magnetization of 11.8 emu/g. This work investigated the effects of four factors on the adsorption performance of MHFD-10, including contact time, solution pH, dosage of MHFD-10, and initial antibiotic concentration. The results revealed a remarkable conformity of the adsorption kinetics with the pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption isotherms with the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic. Specifically, at a temperature of 20°C, MHFD-10 achieved maximum adsorption capacities of 193.95 mg/g for CAP and 268.60 mg/g for TC. Furthermore, these materials exhibited exceptional reusability, maintaining high adsorption capacities even after undergoing five consecutive reuse cycles.