In this work

the renewable potato starch (PS) was used as a raw material and modified by sulfhydryl coupling agent to obtain sulfhydryl functionalized starch (PS-SH)

then

the polymerization reaction of m-aminothiophenol occurred under the action of ammonium persulfate as an initiator to obtain poly(m-aminothiophenol) (PMAT)

subsequently

elemental sulfur was used as a cross-linking agent to obtain a sulfurized poly(m-aminothiophenol)/starch complex (PS-S-PMAT)

finally

the chemical composition

structure and morphology of the material were characterized

and the influence of various variables on the adsorption performance of PS-S-PMAT toward Hg(Ⅱ) ions was explored. The study found the adsorption capacity and removal rate of the material were 226.29mg/g and 90.52% at pH 4 with initial concentration of 100mg/L and 360min of adsorption time. By fitting and analyzing the adsorption data

the adsorption process followed the second-order kinetic model and Langmuir model. The maximum theoretical adsorption capacity of this material for Hg(Ⅱ) was 387.60mg/g. Interfering ions and adsorbent regeneration experiments showed that the interfering ions did not significantly affect the adsorption of Hg(Ⅱ) ions

meanwhile

the adsorption capacity of the material was still 200.73mg/g after five adsorption-desorption cycles

which indicated that the material was selective and reusable performance.