Interaction of Polyacrylic Acid with Copper, Cobalt, and Nickel Ions in Aqueous Solutions

Potentiometric and spectrophotometric titration methods were applied to study the relationships in the interaction of polyacrylic acid with copper, cobalt, and nickel ions in aqueous solutions. It was shown that, in aqueous solutions at pH ~ 3, polyacrylic acid does not form complexes with cobalt and nickel ions. A complex is formed with copper ions, but the equilibrium of the complexing reaction is strongly biased towards copper aqua complexes. The sizes of the metal particles were determined using transmission electron microscopy. The metal particles synthesized in the presence of polyacrylic acid exhibited a fairly broad size distribution.