Immobilization of quaternary ammonium salts on silica gel for perchlorate ions removal

Silica surface was modified with quaternary ammonium salts to give three matrices of different chain length. The synthesized supports were characterized by elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopy, as well as scanning electron microscopy and semi-empirical parametric method 5. Their exchange capacities for ClO₄ ⁻, F⁻, NO₃ ⁻ and CH₃COO⁻ ions were investigated by conductometric titration. The amount of exchanged chloride ions from the matrix was studied for different initial anions concentration. The functionalized silica gel showed very good ability of perchlorate ions exchange from the water solution in room temperature. The anion-exchange properties were also studied in comparison to different number of reactive sites in the matrices. The increased number of chloride at the silica surface took effect on increased ability of ClO₄ ⁻ anion exchange