Efficient Rice-Husk-Derived Silica Nanocatalysts for Organic Dye Removal from Water

Rice is the second most extensively consumed food ingredient, and its by-products in the paddy field include rice husk and straw. Rice husk ash, resulting from rice husk burning, is considered an environment menace, inducing negative effects on the area in which it is disposed of. In this study, rice husk was applied as a silicate source to obtain mesoporous silica material. Characterization techniques confirmed the well-ordered mesophase and resemblance of mesoporous silica resulting from rice husk ash with one obtained from conventional silica sources. The mesoporous silica material was further used as catalyst support. The resulting catalysts were used for rhodamine 110 oxidation, proving high potential for oxidizing hazardous organic compounds, such as dyes from water, resulting in environmentally harmless products.

On-site formation of small Ag nanoparticles on superhydrophobic mesoporous silica for antibacterial application

A superhydrophobic mesoporous silica material loaded with on-site formed small Ag nanoparticles has been prepared via surface modification with octadecylsilane (C18H37SiH3) and subsequent reduction of silver ions with residual hydrido groups on-site.

Safranin O-functionalized cuboid mesoporous silica material for fluorescent sensing and adsorption of permanganate

A new safranin O-based chelating fluorophore coupled, dual-functionalized organic–inorganic hybrid material has been prepared for simultaneous MnO4− detection and adsorption in aqueous media and living organisms such as limnodrilus claparedianus and zebrafish.

Adsorptive removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution using coal fly ash-derived mesoporous silica material

In the present work, coal fly ash-derived mesoporous silica material (CFA-MS) has been successfully fabricated without employing any extra silica source. The obtained CFA-MS was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement, powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement disclosed that CFA-MS possesses Brunauer–Emmett–Teller-specific surface area of 497 m2·g−1 and pore volume of 0.49 cm3·g−1, respectively. Furthermore, CFA-MS was evaluated for the adsorptive removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution. Several influence parameters on the removal of methylene blue including contact time, pH, initial concentration and temperature were studied in detail. Moreover, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models were employed for interpretation of the adsorption process, while the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics equations were applied to investigate the adsorption kinetics. Results in the current work demonstrate that CFA-MS can be used as an efficient adsorbent for methylene blue removal.