Development of gallium incorporated mesoporous silica catalysts for the selective removal of BTX

• Well-ordered porous cubic Ga-KIT-6 materials were synthesized by hydrothermal method.
• Incorporation of gallium into KIT-6 material is suitable adsorbent for BTX removal.
• Highly dispersed gallium precursor is the reason for high adsorption capacity.
• The catalyst providing a higher adsorption capacity than SiO2 and activated carbon.

Three-dimensional mesoporous gallium KIT-6 with different Si/Ga molar ratios have been prepared by using P123 as a structure directing agent under acidic medium in hydrothermal conditions. The synthesized Ga-KIT-6 materials were characterized using small angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), nitrogen sorption analyzer, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The developed mesoporous gallium KIT-6 material possesses a high surface area of 892 m2 g−1 and pore volume of 1.24 cm3 g−1. The mesoporous structure of the catalyst together with the presence of gallium in the silica framework, which confers acidity for better adsorption. Adsorption of BTX over the different Si/Ga molar ratios of cubic Ia3d (Ga-KIT-6) materials were studied and found that the better adsorption on Ga-KIT-6 (5). Interestingly, this material showed excellent adsorption capacity of BTX in aqueous solution.

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