Highly Efficient and Rapid Removal of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solution Using Folic Acid-Conjugated Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

Processes

Abdullah M. Alswieleh¹  Khalid Mohammed Alotaibi¹  Abdurrahman A. Almethen²  Haitham S. Alhumud² 

[1] Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia;King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia;

关键词: dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles;    amine-functionalization;    folic acid-conjugation;    cationic dyes;    dyes removal;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pr10040705

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (DMSNs) are considered superior in the adsorption of unfavorable chemical compounds and biological pollutants. Herein, we have synthesized folic acid-terminated dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (FA-DMSN) for the removal of cationic dyes, methylene blue (MB), from aqueous solutions. The structural, morphological, functional, specific surface area, pore size distribution, and thermal properties of the synthesized DMSNs were identified using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET), and Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). The synthesized DMSNs exhibited a high surface area (521 m^2 −1) and pore volume (1.2 cm³ g⁻¹). In addition, it features both wide pore size and narrow distributions, which strongly affect the adsorption performance in terms of the equilibrium uptake time. Moreover, the impact of pH, contacting time, and dye’s initial concentration on the removal efficiency of MB was studied. The extraction efficiency of FA-DMSN was found to be three times more effective than the bare DMSN materials. Langmuir isotherm fitted the experimental data very well with a correlation coefficient value of 0.99. According to the Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity was 90.7 mg/g. Furthermore, the intra−particle diffusion model revealed a significantly fast intra-particle diffusion which can be attributed to the presence of the large pore’s channels. Finally, the fast adsorption of MB molecules, reaching their equilibrium capacity within tens of seconds, as well as the low cost and ease of FA-DMSN fabrication, makes the developed material an effective adsorbent for water remediations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown