Fabrication of a Modified Polysulfone Membrane Using Molecular Imprinting Technique for Selective Separation of Tetracycline from the Environment

In recent years, the environmental contamination and ecological poisons of antibiotics have possessed great challenges for human health. Versatile methods have been developed in enhanced demand for high-efficiency selective removal of tetracycline (TET), in which molecularly imprinted composite membranes (MICMs) have gained wide attention for selective separation of TET due to their preferable selective recognition and separation performance. Herein, we described a simple two-step method for developing the MICMs by using TET as a template molecule, acrylamide (AM) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a cross-linker, and azo-bis-isobutryronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. Based on ample rebinding sites and strong affinity force, the as-prepared MICMs possessed high rebinding capacity (20.15 mg/g) for adsorbing TET. The superior relative selectivity coefficients could also be achieved, which facilitated for TET adsorbed and separated. These results might be due to the design of tailor-made recognition sites for binding TET in the final application. The as-obtained MICMs showed potential applications for selective recognition and separation of TET from environmental contamination.