Comparison of biosorption of Congo red on the templated cross-linked chitosan nanoparticles

The nanoparticles of templated crosslinked chitosan-epichlorohydrin and chitosan- epichlorohydrin -Congo Red, were prepared through the imprinting process using Congo Red dye as template and epichlorohydrin as a crosslinker. The nanoparticles exhibited significantly higher adsorption capacities of the dye than other nanoparticles formed without a dye template and with crosslinker epichlorohydrin. FTIR spectroscopy studies showed that the possible pathways for Congo Red adsorption onto crosslinked chitosan particles may include ion-ion interactions and hydrogen bond formation.