SBA-16 Cage-Like Porous Material Modified with APTES as an Adsorbent for Pb<sup>2+</sup> Ions Removal from Aqueous Solution
Viviana Palos-Barba,
Abigail Moreno-Martell,
Verónica Hernández-Morales,
Carmen L. Peza-Ledesma,
Eric M. Rivera-Muñoz,
Rufino Nava,
Barbara Pawelec
Affiliations
Viviana Palos-Barba
División de Investigación y Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Centro Universitario, 76010 Querétaro, Mexico
Abigail Moreno-Martell
División de Investigación y Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Centro Universitario, 76010 Querétaro, Mexico
Verónica Hernández-Morales
Centro de Física Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Departamento de Nanotecnología, A.P. 1-1010 Querétaro, Mexico
Carmen L. Peza-Ledesma
Centro de Física Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Departamento de Nanotecnología, A.P. 1-1010 Querétaro, Mexico
Eric M. Rivera-Muñoz
Centro de Física Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Departamento de Nanotecnología, A.P. 1-1010 Querétaro, Mexico
Rufino Nava
División de Investigación y Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Centro Universitario, 76010 Querétaro, Mexico
Barbara Pawelec
Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica, CSIC, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Tridimensional cubic mesoporous silica, SBA-16, functionalized with aminopropyl groups, were employed as adsorbents for Pb2+ ion removal from aqueous solution. The adsorption capacity was investigated for the effect of pH, contact time, temperature, and concentration of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) employed for adsorbent functionalization. The textural properties and morphology of the adsorbents were evaluated by N2 physisorption, small-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The functionalization of the SBA-16 was evaluated by elemental analysis (N), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Batch adsorption studies show that the total Pb2+ ions removal was archived on adsorbent having an optimized amount of aminopropyl groups (2N-SBA-16). The maximum of Pb2+ ions removal occurred at optimized adsorption conditions: pH = 5−6, contact time 40 min, and at a low initial lead concentration in solution (200 mg L−1). Under the same adsorption conditions, the amino-functionalized SBA-16 with cubic 3D unit cell structure exhibited higher adsorption capability than its SBA-15 counterpart with uniform mesoporous channels.