Engineered ε-Polylysine hydrochloride aerogel with tailored hierarchical structure and affinity sites for efficient iodide removal from concentrated algae juice

Abstract

Algae are rich in nutrients and have great benefits for the human body. However, its enriched iodine can be harmful to the human body if consumed in large quantities. Due to the fact that iodide (I⁻) is the main form of existence in algae, herein, a new type of ε-Polylysine hydrochloride aerogel with tailored hierarchical structure and multitudinous amino active sites was successfully synthesized by a simple one-pot method to adsorb I⁻ in aqueous solution firstly. When the adsorbent dosage was 1.0 g/L, between pH 3 and pH 9, the adsorption capacity of I⁻ by the adsorbent basically exceeded 90 %. The adsorbent exhibited excellent adsorption capacity for I⁻, reaching 1.5684 ± 0.0559 mmol/g. In addition, I⁻ was removed by the adsorption method in concentrated algae juice for the first time, along with 36.27 ± 0.01 % adsorption rate, further indicating that the safety adsorbent had practical significance in developing low iodine foods.