Ethanedithiol-modified silica nanoparticles for selective removal of Hg 2+ ions from aqueous wastewater

• Published in: Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie (Neue Folge)
• Main Authors: Mohan, Anandhu, Ashwini, Munusamy, Santhamoorthy, Madhappan, Thirupathi, Kokila, Suresh, Ranganathan, Guganathan, Loganathan, Arumugam, Natarajan, Almansour, Abdulrahman I., Lin, Mei-Ching, Kim, Seong-Cheol, Kumarasamy, Keerthika, Vy Phan, Thi Tuong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 23.05.2024
• ISSN: 0942-9352; 2196-7156
• DOI: 10.1515/zpch-2024-0605

Abstract A mesoporous silica nanoparticle was synthesized by incorporating (3-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GPTS)) via sol-gel co-condensation method using Pluronic P123 as structure directing agent and further reacted with ethanedithiol (ED) by post-surface modification process. To produce ethanedithiol-modified silica nanoparticles, approximately 20 wt% of GPTS was incorporated into the mesoporous silica pore walls by reacting tetraethyl orthosilicate and GPTS mixture (80:20 wt/wt%). Next, the ethanedithiol groups were introduced onto the silica surface by reacting with the epoxy part of GPTS and thiol groups of ED to produce the ED-modified-mesoporous silica adsorbent (MS-ED NPs) material. The synthesized MS-ED NPs show a high surface area, pore size, and mesopore volume of approximately 556 m 2 /g, 2.7 nm, and 0.052 cm 3 /g, respectively. The MS-ED NPs showed selective removal of mercury ions (Hg 2+ ) ions from the aqueous solution in the presence of other competitive metal ions with an adsorption amount of ∼168 mg/g with a removal capacity of approximately >90 % from the initial metal ion solutions (100 mg/L). The produced MS-ED NPs can be reusable up to 5 times by treating the metal-adsorbed MS-ED NPs in an acidic (0.1 M HCl) aqueous solution. Hence, the MS-ED NPs could be utilized to selectively remove Hg 2+ ions from aqueous wastewater.