Mesostructured silica-based materials. Synthesis, characterisation and adsoption properties

Mesoporous silica, aluminosilicates, as well as ceria-silica and titania-silica nanocomposites exhibit high surface area and pore volume, ordered pore array, non-toxic behavior, the possibility of the pore surface functionalization with different organic groups, tunable pore size and acidity. They can be used as efficient sorbents for different organic or inorganic pollutants, the adsorption properties depending on the pore size, type of interaction between mesoporous compound and pollutant.

We have synthesized different mesoporous materials, MCM41, SBA15, as well as CeO₂-SiO₂, TiO₂-SiO₂ composites by sol-gel technique associated with hydrothermal method. The textural features of the mesostructured silica-based materials were tuned by using different structure directing agents (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and Pluronic P123) and various cerium or titanium precursors. The carriers were characterized by low and wide angle X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, FTIR spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

We have studied the adsoption properties of synthesized mesostructured materials on tetracycline's class of antibiotics. The maximum permissible concentration of these antibiotics in industrial and pharmacy wastewaters is very low (1mg/L) and we focused our efforts to study  the antibiotic-mesoporous material interactions and to establish the properties of an efficient sorbent for pollution control of industrial waters.