Organo-ceramic composite materials, their use as adsorbents, and methods of making the same

A method of recovering a metal ion from a water stream comprising:

• (i) providing a copolymer of formula (I)
• wherein R1 is independently H, an alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms,
• R2 is independently H or an alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms,
• R3 is independently R2
• R4 is a functional group with metal ion adsorption activity,
• R5 is independently R2 or
• n is an integer greater than 10 and m is an integer greater than 1, and
• wherein the copolymer is characterized by clustering of the functional groups having adsorption activity as dimers, trimers, or higher oligomers integrated into copolymer;
• and
• (ii) contacting a water stream containing a metal ion with the copolymer under conditions effective for the copolymer to adsorb the metal ion from the water stream;
• (iii) stripping the adsorbed metal ion from the copolymer under conditions effective to yield a concentrate of the metal ion;
• and
• (iv) recovering the metal ion from the concentrate.