Recovery and determination of palladium from its alloys using iminodiacetic polyurethane/carbon nanofibers sorbent

New sorbent was synthesized by coupling iminodiacetic polyurethane foam with carbon nanofibers to increase its surface area and sorption capacity. FTIR, UV/Vis, Raman spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the IDAPUF/CNFs sorbent. By using these techniques, it was found that the sorbent contains 0.58, 0.62, and 2.23 mmol g⁻¹ of amino, carboxylic, and phenolic groups, respectively. The maximum sorption (99–100%) of palladium(II) ions onto IDAPUF/CNFs was achieved within 10–15 min at pH 5.0. A perfect isotherm curve with a zero intercept (0.0003) and good correlation (R² = 1) was obtained. The capacity of the IDAPUF/CNFs sorbent preloaded onto a glass column was calculated to be 0.58 mmol g⁻¹. The values of LOD, LOQ, and RSD% (n = 6) are 0.004 ng mL⁻¹, 0.013 ng mL⁻¹, and 1.17%, respectively. The accuracy of the procedure was verified by the recovery of Pd(II) ions (100%) from some palladium alloys and road dust samples (RSD% = 0.36).