Amine modified mesostructured silica nano particles enhanced adsorption of phenol

Abstract

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) were synthesized and modified with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) using co-condensation (co-MSN) and post-grafting (post-MSN) methods. Both modification methods seem to alter the crystallinity, surface area, and pore volume as compared to the unmodified MSN. The activity of all MSNs was tested for the adsorptive removal of phenol. Co-MSN showed significantly good adsorptivity towards 10 mg L-1 of phenols, followed by post-MSN and MSN. It was found that the highest activity of co-MSN was resulted from the additional higher adsorption energy from the quaternary alkylammonium groups (Si–C–C–C–[N+–(CH3)3]) of cationic template and also from the amine group of the APTES functionalization, which showed more advantages as compared to post-MSN and MSN.