Synthesis and characterization of chitosan nanoparticles for adsorption of heavy metals

• Grant number: 19/10687-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Technology
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Lucas Primo
• Grantee: Renata Sayuri Kobashigava
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

From the different types of pollutants that contaminate the water, soil and air due to the inappropriate discard, the heavy metals are considered harmful substances by the World Health Organization, because the accumulation in the organism show toxicity and cancerous properties. In this aspect, the nanotechnology is a notable alternative for monitoring, detecting and cleaning environments infected by having characteristics that makes the metallic ions easy to capture. From the diversity of techniques to remove heavy metals, adsorption exhibits to be efficient. In this context an interesting biopolymer is the chitosan, due to the adsorbent property and stability for preparation of nanoparticulate systems. Therefore, the present project intends to synthesize chitosan nanoparticles for the adsorption of heavy metals like Pb, Cd, among others. For this purpose, physicochemical stability will be analyzed by means of monitoring parameters like the zeta potential, particle size, polydispersity index and pH. Furthermore, the chitosan nanoparticles will be characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The determination of adsorption efficiency of heavy metals in question will be performed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). It is expected to produce stable nanoparticles, uniforms and functional, so that adsorption of the heavy metal is of satisfactory magnitude.