Selective removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions with surface functionalized silica nanoparticles by different functional groups

Abstract

The industrial silica fume pretreated by nitric acid at 80 °C was re-used in this work. Then, the obtained silica nanoparticles were surface functionalized by silane coupling agents, such as (3-Mercaptopropyl) triethoxysilane (MPTES) and (3-Amincpropyl) trithoxysilane (APTES). Some further modifications were studied by chloroaceetyl choride and 1,8-Diaminoaphalene for amino modified silica. The surface functionalized silica nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FI-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The prepared adsorbent of surface functionalized silica nanoparticles with differential function groups were investigated in the selective adsorption about Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions in aqueous solutions. The results show that the (3-Mercaptopropyl) triethoxysilane functionalized silica nanoparticles (SiO₂-MPTES) play an important role in the selective adsorption of Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺, the (3-Amincpropyl) trithoxysilane (APTES) functionalized silica nanoparticles (SiO₂-APTES) exhibited maximum removal efficiency towards Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺, the 1,8-Diaminoaphalene functionalized silica nanoparticles was excellent for removal of Hg²⁺ at room temperature, respectively.

Keywords

industrial silica fume / surface functionalization / heavy metal ions / selective removal

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