A Novel Metal-Containing Mesoporous Silica Composite for the Decolorization of Rhodamine B: Effect of Metal Content on Structure and Performance

Abstract

A series of novel MnxFey@SiO2 (x,y = 1–20%) nanocomposites were synthesized for the first time via the sol-gel/combustion method with different content of precursors (Mn and Fe acetate salts). The effect of precursor content and ratio on physicochemical properties were observed by various characterization methods. Moreover, Rhodamine B (RhB) was chosen as the target pollutant to test the performance of these nanocomposites under a photocatalytic Fenton-like reaction. The results showed that the nanocomposite morphology improved by increasing Fe and Mn content. In this study, interesting behavior was observed in BET results which were different from the fact that increasing metal content can decrease the surface area. This study revealed that one metal could be more critical in controlling the properties than another. Moreover, the precursor ratio appears to have a more tangible effect on the surface area than the effect of precursor content. Among all synthesized nanocomposites, Mn1Fe5@SiO2 showed the highest surface area of 654.95 m2/g. At optimum batch conditions (temp = 25 °C, catalyst dosage = 1 g L−1, H2O2 = 75 mmolL−1, and initial RhB concentration = 50 mg L−1), complete removal (simultaneous adsorption/degradation) occurred using Mn1Fe5@SiO2 at neutral pH. This study showed that the designed nanomaterial could be used as a dual functional adsorbent/photocatalyst in different environmental applications.

Mesoporous Silica/Iron Phthalocyanine Light-Driven Nanomaterials for Efficient Removal of Pb2+ Ions from Wastewater

“…The spectra of mesoporous silica showed a typical infrared spectrum of the silica framework, where the main absorption peak corresponds to the peak at 464 and 1058 cm −1 can be attributed to the Si− O−Si stretching vibration and the in-plane stretching vibration of Si−OH. 30,31 The spectra of mesoporous silica-NH 2 showed two similar peaks at 3216 cm −1 was −NH 2 caused by the stretching vibration. 32 The appearance of these peaks indicates that the −NH 2 in its molecular formula has been laminated.…”