Immobilization of Tin (IV) molybdophosphate onto mesoporous silica SBA-15 and its application on strontium removal from aqueous solution

Ordered mesoporous silica materials are one of the most extensively used adsorbents for trapping pollutants. They have many advantages such as good accessibility to active sites, rapid mass transport inside the nanostructures, and good hydrothermal stability, but most mesoporous materials do not themselves have the appropriate surface properties. To address this issue, we reported a simple method for immobilization of heteropolymetalate onto mesoporous, because they have potential sorption and ion exchange properties. Here we attempted to immobilized Tin (IV) molybdophosphate onto mesoporous silica SBA-15 and used for strontium removal from aqueous solution. The obtained products were characterized by inductively coupled plasma (ICP), XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FT-IR. This work provides new methodology for the general synthesis of supported heteropolymetalate with large surface areas, and ordered nano porous structures.

Highlights► Immobilization of Tin (IV) molybdophosphate onto mesoporous silica is performed by two step aqueous impregnation method. ► High dispersion of Tin (IV) molybdophosphate is obtained upon immobilization. ► By supporting Tin (IV) molybdophosphate onto mesoporous silica adsorption rate and ion exchange capacity is increased for strontium removal from aqueous solution.