Hybrid surfactant-templated mesoporous silica formed in ethanol and its application for heavy metal removal

With cetyltrimethylammonium (CTAB) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) as hybrid surfactant templates, a mesoporous adsorbent (adsorbent C) was synthesized in ethanol via the integration of “One-step” procedure and “Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly” procedure. During the synthesis, TMAOH served as the subsidiary structure-directing agent. Adsorbent C exhibited higher pore diameter (centered at 6.1 nm), BET surface area (421.9 m2/g) and pore volume (0.556 cm3/g) than the other two adsorbents only using P123 (adsorbent A) or CTAB (adsorbent B) as the surfactant. The adsorbents were also characterized by XRD and FTIR spectroscopy. The adsorption of copper, zinc, lead, iron, silver and manganese ions on adsorbent C was investigated by contrast tests with adsorbent A and B. The experimental data showed that adsorbent C possessed better adsorption properties than the counterparts. The order of adsorption capacity for six metal ions was Mn2+ < Zn2+ < Cu2+ < Fe2+ < Pb2+ < Ag+. The kinetic and thermodynamic properties and the regeneration capacity of adsorbent C were also discussed.