Study of CsCl incorporation in silica via sol-gel synthesis catalyzed by biogenic compounds

Incorporation of CsCl in silica via sol-gel route catalyzed by biogenic compounds with three different concentrations of CsCl has been carried out by using organic compounds extracted from Nitzschia spp., a freshwater diatom alga. The visual integrity, nitrogen adsorption and electron microscopies were used to characterize the silica gels obtained from the biocatalysts employing sol-gel process with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as precursor. The usual sequence for the sol-gel process was used: sol preparation, gelation, aging, drying and heat treatment. Differential thermal analysis (DTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the incorporation of CsCl in the biomimetic silica. Chemical analysis of the biocatalysts was used to explain the exothermic behavior of the samples during DTA and DSC. The incorporation of CsCl in the silica matrix with a process using biogenic catalysts proved to be more effective compared to another process using inorganic catalysts.