Synthesis and characterization of silica–imidazole mesostructured composite from agricultural biomass

Silica–imidazole composite was synthesized from rice husk via a wet chemical process under mild reaction conditions. The synthesized composite, RHA-IMI showed the presence of the C–N and CN groups in the FT-IR spectrum which indicated the presence of imidazole in the silica matrix. The low angle XRD showed the presence of mesoporous ordered structure. RHA-IMI showed type IV isotherm with H2 hysteresis loop, which is a characteristic of a corpuscular system. The textural properties of the composite showed a narrow pore size distribution centered at 4 nm.

Graphical abstractMesostructured silica–imidazole composite was synthesized via a wet chemical process at room temperature. The resulting material RHA-IMI had a narrow pore size distribution centered at 4 nm..Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Rice husk was used as the source of sodium silicate. ► Silica–imidazole composite, RHA-IMI was prepared at room temperature. ► The composite material showed the hexagonal pore system with ca. 4 nm of pores. ► RHA-IMI had a high specific surface area of 535 m2 g−1.