Preparation of porous silica from natural chlorite via selective acid leaching and its application in methylene blue adsorption

Abstract

In this study, porous silica with high surface area was prepared through selective leaching of thermally activated chlorite in HCl solution. In the process, chlorite was activated by pre-calcining treatment, then activated components (MgO, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃) were selectively leached by acid solution, resulting in the formation of nanopores in situ. The morphology, structure, surface area and pore-size distribution of the material were characterized by XRD, TG/DSC, ²⁷Al MAS NMR, SEM, TEM and N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms. The highest specific surface area (S_BET=333 m²/g) was obtained by selectively leaching the 600 °C calcined chlorite from 3 mol/L HCl at 90 °C for 2 h. The pore sizes and specific surface areas can be controlled by calcination and leaching conditions. The ²⁷Al MAS NMR spectra of the samples revealed the relationship between structural transformation and the selective acid leaching properties of thermal-activated chlorite, demonstrating that Al^VI transfers into Al^V when chlorite changes into activated chlorite during thermal activation, and the coordinations of Al has a significant effect on acid solubility of chlorite. The as-prepared porous silica showed favorable adsorption abilities with capacity of 148.79 mg/g for methylene blue at pH of about 7 and temperature of 25 °C, indicating its promising potential in adsorption application.

Keywords

chlorite / thermally activated / selective leaching / porous silica materials / methylene blue adsorption

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