Synthetic dyes are used in textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, plastic, paper, paint, and leather etc. Dye waste in water sources has received significant attention in recent years. When discharged into waterways, these dyes impair aquatic ecosystem, enter food chain, and exhibit biomagnification. Many of those dyes have been found to cause toxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity among other adverse health effects. The impact of dyes in aquatic ecosystem includes decrease in light penetration through water which directly affects the photosynthesis of aquatic plants, altering CO<sub>2</sub> fixation and causing oxygen deficiency.<br/> <br/>In this study, we explored synthetic polymers due to their versatile and tunable chemistry to investigate removal of water-soluble dye molecules from solution. Results from our experiments show that the molecular interactions between the polymer and dyes can be tuned to selectively remove specific dyes from solution.

Polymer-mediated removal of synthetic dyes from aqueous solution for sustainable environment

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.