Cetylpyridinium chloride functionalized silica‐coated magnetite microspheres for the solid‐phase extraction and pre‐concentration of ochratoxin A from environmental water samples with high‐performance liquid chromatographic analysis

A new method based on cetylpyridinium chloride coated ferroferric oxide/silica magnetic microspheres as an efficient solid‐phase adsorbent was developed for the extraction and enrichment of ochratoxin A. The determination of ochratoxin A was obtained by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. In the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride, the adsorption capacity of ferroferric oxide/silica microspheres was 5.95 mg/g for ochratoxin A. The experimental parameters were optimized, including the amounts of ferroferric oxide/silica microspheres (20 mg) and cetylpyridinium chloride (0.18 mL, 0.5 mg/mL), pH value of media (9), ultrasonic time (5 min), elution solvent and volume [2(1 + 1) mL (washed twice, 1 mL each time) 1% acetic acid acetonitrile]. Under optimal experiment conditions, ochratoxin A had good linearity in the range of 2.5–250.0 ng/L in water samples with correlation coefficient of the calibration curve 0.9995. The limit of detection for ochratoxin A was 0.83 ng/L, and the recoveries were 89.8–96.8% with the relative standard deviation of 1.5–3.5% in environmental water samples. Furthermore, ferroferric oxide/silica microspheres show excellent reusability during extraction procedures for no less than six times.     

Synthesis, Characterization, and Catalytic Properties of Ti, V, and Zr-HMS Prepared by Metallocene Grafting

Ti, V, and Zr-HMS molecular sieves were prepared by grafting the respective metallocene onto the pure silica HMS, XRD, N₂-physisorption, TEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy and elemental analysis were performed to characterize the samples prepared. The XRD patterns of the metal-grafted samples exhibited well-defined (100) reflections, and the intensity remained almost constant as with pure silica HMS. Surface area, hysteresis loop in N₂ adsorption isotherms and N₂ volume adsorbed decreased after metal grafting. The order of catalytic activity for 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (2,6-DTBP) oxidation using H₂O₂ was V-HMS (91.5 % conversion) Ti-HMS(20.3 %) Zr-HMS(8.4 %). Metal leaching was detected for all the grafted samples in the reaction media; V-HMS(22 wt.%) Zr-HMS(3 wt.%) > Ti-HMS(2 wt.%). For V-HMS and Zr-HMS, further reaction after catalyst filtration indicated significant contribution to the reaction by the dissolved species.     

Amino functionalised Silica-Aerogels for CO2-adsorption at low partial pressure

Effective adsorption of CO₂ at low partial pressures is required for many technical processes, such as gas purification or CO₂ removal in closed loop environmental control systems. Since the concentration of CO₂ in such applications is rather low, a high adsorption capacity is a required property for the adsorbent. Silica aerogels possessing an open pore structure, a high porosity and a high surface area, have a great potential for utilisation as CO₂ adsorbents. Nonetheless in order to reach high adsorption capacities, silica aerogels should be functionalised, for instance by amino functionalisation. In this work, two different functionalisation methods were applied for the generation of amino functionalised aerogels: co-condensation during the sol-gel process and post-treatment of the gel. The co-condensation functionalisation allows the introduction of up to 1.44 wt.% nitrogen into the aerogel structure with minor reductions in surface area, leading however only to minor increases in the adsorption capacity at low partial pressures. The post functionalisation of the gel causes a greater loss in surface area, but the CO₂ adsorption capacity increases, due to the introduction of higher amounts of amino groups into the aerogel structure (up to 5.2 wt.% nitrogen). Respectively, 0.523 mmol CO₂/g aerogel could be adsorbed at 250 Pa. This value is comparable with the adsorption capacity at this pressure of a standard commercially available adsorbent, Zeolite 13X.     

Synthesis of rod-like mesoporous silica with hexagonal appearance using sodium silicate as precursor

Using sodium silicate as precursor, rod-like mesoporous silica with hexagonal appearance was synthesized by controlling the pH value of a mixed micelles solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) during hydrolysis of ethyl acetate. The resulting mesoporous silica was characterized by small angle X-ray diffraction, nitrogen gas adsorption-desorption measurement and scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the regular rod-like shapes with hexagonal appearance were obtained at a 9:1 molar ratio of CTAB to CTAC, and that the amounts and lengths of the rod-like mesoporous silica particles decreased with decreasing CTAB to CTAC molar ratio. There existed a type IV adsorption isotherm and an H1 hysteresis loop in N₂ gas adsorption-desorption curves.     

Hydrogen adsorption on silicalite in the presence of water and benzene

¹H NMR techniques in the temperature range 200–280 K under isobaric conditions are used to investigate concurrent adsorption of hydrogen and water in the pores of silicalite, a microporous silica. The possibility for a small (up to a few weight percent) quantity of water to exist in the pores is demonstrated. Water is found to exist in the form of two types of cluster structures differing in the degree of water association. A conclusion about the stabilization of the weakly associated form by weakly polar organic molecules is made. Water is shown to promote the hydrogen adsorption process; when its concentration is c _H2O = 2 wt %, adsorption increases more than twofold. A suggestion that this effect is caused by the formation of water-hydrogen cluster structures in the pores is made.     

Synthesis of N-Doped meso-macroporous carbon and its application to SO2 absorption

N-Doped meso-macroporous carbon materials were synthesized using melamine-formaldehyde resin as carbon precursor and silica spheres as a removable template. The as-synthesized carbon materials with a bimodal pores structure (about 3.9 and ～50–200 nm) display a high surface nitrogen content of 30 wt %. The macropores of carbon materials can be modulated by changing the diameter of template. The SO₂ adsorption experiments demonstrate a high adsorption capacity of 78.6 mg g^?1 and a considerable stability even over 9 cycles for the carbon materials.     

Hydrogen storage in low silica type X zeolites

Low silica type X zeolites (LSX, Si/Al = 1) fully exchanged by alkali-metal cations (Li(+), Na(+), and K(+)) were studied for their hydrogen storage capacities. Hydrogen adsorption isotherms were measured separately at 77 K and <1 atm, and at 298 K and <10 MPa. It was found that the hydrogen adsorption capacity of LSX zeolite depended strongly on the cationic radius and the density of the cations that are located on the exposed sites. The interaction energies between H(2) and the cations follow the order Li(+) > Na(+) > K(+), as predicted based on the ionic radii. Oxygen anions on zeolite framework were minor adsorption sites. Li-LSX had an H(2) capacity of 1.5 wt % at 77 K and 1 atm, and a capacity of 0.6 wt % at 298 K and 10 MPa, among the highest of known sorbents. The hydrogen capacity in LSX zeolite by bridged hydrogen spillover was also investigated. A simple and effective technique was employed to build carbon bridges between the H(2) dissociation catalyst and the zeolite to facilitate spillover of hydrogen atoms. Thus, the hydrogen storage capacity of Li-LSX zeolite was enhanced to 1.6 wt % (by a factor of 2.6) at 298 K and 10 MPa. This is by far the highest hydrogen storage capacity obtained on a zeolite material at room temperature. Furthermore, the adsorption rates were fast, and the storages were shown to be fully reversible and rechargeable. Further optimization of the bridge building technique would lead to an additional enhancement of hydrogen storage.     

No More HF: Teflon‐Assisted Ultrafast Removal of Silica to Generate High‐Surface‐Area Mesostructured Carbon for Enhanced CO2 Capture and Supercapacitor Performance

An innovative technique to obtain high‐surface‐area mesostructured carbon (2545 m² g^?1) with significant microporosity uses Teflon as the silica template removal agent. This method not only shortens synthesis time by combining silica removal and carbonization in a single step, but also assists in ultrafast removal of the template (in 10 min) with complete elimination of toxic HF usage. The obtained carbon material (JNC‐1) displays excellent CO₂ capture ability (ca. 26.2 wt % at 0 °C under 0.88 bar CO₂ pressure), which is twice that of CMK‐3 obtained by the HF etching method (13.0 wt %). JNC‐1 demonstrated higher H₂ adsorption capacity (2.8 wt %) compared to CMK‐3 (1.2 wt %) at ?196 °C under 1.0 bar H₂ pressure. The bimodal pore architecture of JNC‐1 led to superior supercapacitor performance, with a specific capacitance of 292 F g^?1 and 182 F g^?1 at a drain rate of 1 A g^?1 and 50 A g^?1, respectively, in 1 m H₂SO₄ compared to CMK‐3 and activated carbon.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly1-hexene/silica nanocomposites

SiO₂ nano particles, with particle size of 12 nm, were first modified by substituting surface OH groups with O-hexyl moiety. Then, poly1-hexene/modified-SiO₂ composites with various nano-SiO₂ weight fractions were prepared by three different methods: in situ, solution, and melt methods and designated as PH-SiO₂/Insitu, PH-SiO₂/Sol and PH-SiO₂/Melt, respectively. PH-SiO₂/Insitu samples showed highly uniform particle dispersion up to 30 wt. % of silica while in PH-SiO₂/Sol and PH-SiO₂/Melt samples agglomeration of the silica nanoparticles occurred for filler contents ≥5 wt. % (i.e. 5, 10, 20 and 30 wt%). In the synthesized composites, the storage modulus significantly increased as high as 20.7 times when compared with neat poly1-hexene. Maximum decomposition temperature (T_max) and char yield at 600 °C increased with increasing silica level. Rheological results showed that G^ʹ> G^ʺ over the frequency range, illustrating the elastic behavior of the composite samples. In fact, samples showed the characteristic of a non-Newtonian fluid with a strong shear thinning effect in which η* increased with increasing filler weight fraction. From the results, it can be expected that modified silica could replace silica nanoparticles in polyolefin nanocomposite reinforcement.     

Kinetic and equilibrium studies of lead(II) adsorption from aqueous media by KIT-6 mesoporous silica functionalized with –COOH

An organic–inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica was synthesized via post-grafting of KIT-6 with 4-(triethoxysilyl)butyronitrile. All samples were characterized using their N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms, XRD, FT–IR, TEM, SEM, and PT. The adsorption potential of this material for removing Pb(II) from aqueous solutions was investigated via the batch technique, and the effects of pH and contact time were studied. Experimental data showed that the maximum Pb(II) adsorption, 76%, occurred in the pH range around 6. The adsorption equilibrium was reached within 40 min for 10 wt.%COOH/KIT-6. The adsorption data were fitted using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, and the obtained modeling equilibrium adsorption data suggested that the 10 wt.%COOH/KIT-6 sample contained homogeneous adsorption sites that fit the Langmuir adsorption model well. The pseudo-second-order model described well the 10 wt.%COOH/KIT-6 adsorption process. The desorption and regeneration experiments indicated that ≈95% of the metal desorbed and the adsorbent could be regenerated via an acid treatment without altering its properties.     

A novel sol-gel-material prepared by a surface imprinting technique for the selective solid-phase extraction of bisphenol A

A novel and simple imprinted amino-functionalized silica gel material was synthesized by combining a surface molecular imprinting technique with a sol-gel process on the supporter of activated silica gel for solid-phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography (SPE-HPLC) determination of bisphenol A (BPA). Non-imprinted silica sorbent was synthesized without the addition of BPA using the same procedure as that of BPA-imprinted silica sorbent. The BPA-imprinted silica sorbent and non-imprinted silica sorbent were characterized by FT-IR and the static adsorption experiments. The prepared BPA-imprinted silica sorbent showed high adsorption capacity, significant selectivity and good site accessibility for BPA. The maximum static adsorption capacity of the BPA-imprinted and non-imprinted silica sorbent for BPA was 68.9 and 34.0 mg g⁻¹, respectively. The relatively selective factor value of this BPA-imprinted silica sorbent was 4.5. Furthermore, the difference of the retention characteristics of BPA on the C₈ SPE column and BPA-imprinted silica SPE (MIP-SPE) was compared. The MIP-SPE-HPLC method showed higher selectivity to BPA than the traditional SPE-HPLC method. At last, the BPA-imprinted polymers were used as the sorbent in solid-phase extraction to determine BPA in water samples with satisfactory recovery higher than 99% (R.S.D. 3.7%).     

Selective Adsorption of Arsenic Ions on Silica Gel Impregnated with Ferric Hydroxide

Abstract

Selective adsorption of trace arsenite- and arsenate anions in an aqueous solution by ferric hydroxyde supported on silica gel particles was investigated. Silica gel particles were loaded with ferric hydroxide of the range of 1 – 3 wt. % in terms of Fe based on the dry gel, and the extent of adsorption of arsenite or arsenate ion measured by batch- and column processes, being the highest at pH 6 in the presence of diverse foreign ions. With the use of silica gel containing 3.3 wt. % Fe, as much as 0.07 m mol of arsenic per gram of dry gel was adsorbed.     

New antifouling silica hydrogel

In this work, a new antifouling silica hydrogel was developed for potential biomedical applications. A zwitterionic polymer, poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (pCBMA), was produced via atom-transfer radical polymerization and was appended to the hydrogel network in a two-step acid-base-catalyzed sol-gel process. The pCBMA silica aerogels were obtained by drying the hydrogels under supercritical conditions using CO(2). To understand the effect of pCBMA on the gel structure, pCBMA silica aerogels with different pCBMA contents were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and the surface area from Brauner-Emmet-Teller (BET) measurements. The antifouling property of pCBMA silica hydrogel to resist protein (fibrinogen) adsorption was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). SEM images revealed that the particle size and porosity of the silica network decreased at low pCBMA content and increased at above 33 wt % of the polymer. The presence of pCBMA increased the surface area of the material by 91% at a polymer content of 25 wt %. NMR results confirmed that pCBMA was incorporated completely into the silica structure at a polymer content below 20 wt %. A protein adsorption test revealed a reduction in fibrinogen adsorption by 83% at 25 wt % pCBMA content in the hydrogel compared to the fibrinogen adsorption in the unmodified silica hydrogel.     

A controlled release of ibuprofen by systematically tailoring the morphology of mesoporous silica materials

A series of mesoporous silica materials with similar pore sizes, different morphologies and variable pore geometries were prepared systematically. In order to control drug release, ibuprofen was employed as a model drug and the influence of morphology and pore geometry of mesoporous silica on drug release profiles was extensively studied. The mesoporous silica and drug-loaded samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, N₂ adsorption and desorption, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the drug-loading amount was directly correlated to the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, pore geometry, and pore volume; while the drug release profiles could be controlled by tailoring the morphologies of mesoporous silica carriers.     

Adsorption Isotherms of Cetylpyridinium Chloride with Iron III Salts at Air/Water and Silica/Water Interfaces

The interaction of iron III salts and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) has been studied at the air/water and silica/water interfaces. The surface tension of cetylpyridinium chloride has been determined in aqueous solutions in the presence of iron III chloride and iron III nitrate at two constant pH values, namely, 3.5 and 1.2. It is shown that the surface tension of the cationic surfactant depends upon the ionic strength of the solution through the pH adjustment in the presence of the former salt but not in the presence of the latter. The effect of iron III nitrate on the surface tension of CPC is similar to that of potassium nitrate, indicating that the iron III various-hydrolyzed species do not interfere with the composition of the air/water interface. The competitive adsorption of iron III nitrate salt and the cationic surfactant at a silica/water interface was next investigated. The adsorption isotherms were determined at pH 3.5. It is shown that although the iron III ions, which were added to the silica dispersion in the presence of the cetylpyridinium ions, were strongly bound to the anionic surface sites, the surfactant ions are not salted out in the solution but remain in close vicinity of the silica surface. Conversely as the cationic surfactant is added first to the silica dispersion in the presence of the adsorbed iron III ions, the metal ions and the surfactant ions are both coadsorbed onto the silica surface. It is suggested that iron III hydrolyzed or free cations and the cationic surfactant molecules may not compete for the same adsorption sites onto the silica surface.     

A New Synthetic Route to Microporous Silica with Well‐Defined Pores by Replication of a Metal–Organic Framework

Microporous amorphous hydrophobic silica materials with well‐defined pores were synthesized by replication of the metal–organic framework (MOF) [Cu₃(1,3,5‐benzenetricarboxylate)₂] (HKUST‐1). The silica replicas were obtained by using tetramethoxysilane or tetraethoxysilane as silica precursors and have a micro–meso binary pore system. The BET surface area, the micropore volume, and the mesopore volume of the silica replica, obtained by means of hydrothermal treatment at 423 K with tetraethoxysilane, are 620 m²g^?1, 0.18 mL g^?1, and 0.55 mL g^?1, respectively. Interestingly, the silica has micropores with a pore size of 0.55 nm that corresponds to the pore‐wall thickness of the template MOF. The silica replica is hydrophobic, as confirmed by adsorption analyses, although the replica has a certain amount of silanol groups. This hydrophobicity is due to the unique condensation environment of the silica precursors in the template MOF.     

Phenol adsorption on active carbon by means of thin-layer chromatography

Summary The effect of the acidity of the media on the adsorption of phenol and creasols was investigated using TLC and using the R_F-values as a measure of the adsorption ability of active carbon. Three types of chromatographic layers were employed: silica gel, silica gel containing 3% of active carbon and silica gel containing 6% of active carbon. Standard solutions of phenol, m-cresol and o-cresol were used as the samples. The acetic acid content of the solvent mixture significantly influences the adsorption of phenol and cresols on the active carbon layer. An increase in the acetic acid content results in a decrease of the adsorption of phenols. However, under specific conditions [81∶5∶7 hexane-diethyl ether-acetic acid, and 48∶2∶8 benzene-acetone-acetic acid developers] the competitive adsorption of phenols and acetic acid may take place, which has been observed by a steep increase in the adsorption of phenol and cresols.     

Study of the adsorption behavior ¶of heavy metal ions on nanometer-size ¶titanium dioxide with ICP-AES

A new method using nanoparticle TiO₂ as solid-phase extractant coupled with ICP-AES was proposed for simultaneous determination of trace elements. The adsorption behavior of nanometer TiO₂ towards Cu, Cr, Mn and Ni was investigated by ICP-AES, and the adsorption pH curves, adsorption isotherms and adsorption capacities were obtained. It was found that the adsorption rates of the metal ions studied were more than 90% in pH 8.0～9.0, and 2.0 mol L^–1 HCl was sufficient for complete elution. Nanometer TiO₂ possesses a significant capacity for the sorption of the metal ions studied which is higher than the capacity of silica, the commonly used extractant. The method has been applied to the analysis of some environmental samples with satisfactory results.     

Synthesis of mesoporous silica for adsorption of chlordiazepoxide and its determination by HPLC: Experimental design

In this work, mesoporous silica (SBA‐15‐NH₂) was used as an efficient adsorbent for extraction of chlordiazepoxide from different samples based on dispersive nanomaterial‐ultrasound assisted microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography. The prepared sorbent was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, low‐angle X‐ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and N₂ adsorption‐desorption surface area measurement. Several variables affecting the extraction efficiency of the chlordiazepoxide, including the amounts of adsorbent, time of adsorption, pH and volume of desorption solvent were optimized by central composite design combined with desirability function. The values of variables were set as 10 mg of SBA‐15‐NH₂, 15 min adsorption time, pH = 7.3 and 1 mL methanol. The linear response (0.998) was obtained in the range of 0.006–10 µgmL^?1 with detection limit 0.0014 µg/mL and extraction recovery was in the range of 91–96% with relative standard deviation < 6%.     

Structural and sorption properties of carbon replicas obtained by matrix carbonization of organic precursors in SBA-15 and KIT-6

We have carried out a comparative study of matrix carbonization of some organic precursors (sucrose, polydivinylbenzene, polyphenol-formaldehyde, polyacrylonitrile, acetonitrile) in SBA-15 and KIT-6 silica mesoporous molecular sieves. We have shown that carbon mesoporous molecular sieves of the CMK-8 type, obtained in KIT-6 mesopores, have better adsorption characteristics due to the features of the three-dimensional cubic structure, the larger pore volume and thickness of the walls of the framework. The maximum micropore volume is observed in CMK-3 and CMK-8, obtained by carbonization of polyphenol-formaldehyde and polydivinylbenzene, while the greatest specific surface area is observed on carbonization of sucrose, where the maximum hydrogen adsorption capacity is achieved at a level of ∼1.4 wt.% (77 K, 1 atm). We show that the mesopore surface coverage by hydrogen in carbon mesoporous molecular sieves increases as the degree of graphitization increases.