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Crystal Violet-Imprinted Polymer: A Study on the Characterization and
Binding Behaviour
Ku Norsyafieka Binti Ku Harith
Supervisor: Dr. Faizatul Shimal Binti Mehamod
Bachelor of Science (Chemical Sciences)
School of Fundamental Science
Crystal Violet (CV) does not undergo natural degradation which can spoil the
ecosystem. In this study, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) prepared via bulk
polymerization method were used as an adsorbent for the removal of CV from aqueous
solution. CV was used as template molecule, methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional
monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker, 2,2’-
azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator, and methanol as solvent. Various
techniques were applied to characterize the polymers including Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-
Emmett-Teller (BET). FTIR analysis showed that both non-imprinted polymer (NIP)
and crystal violet-imprinted polymer (CV-IP) have similar backbone structure with little
difference in peak shifting. SEM illustrated both NIP and CV-IP has irregular shape.
BET analysis showed that CV-IP has higher surface area with numerous pores
compared to NIP. Adsorption capacity of CV-IP obtained is higher than NIP which was
carried out by UV-Vis spectroscopy.
415 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2018