Abstract
A facile synthesis procedure is proposed to prepare homogeneous Zr and Ti co-doped SBA-15 (Zr-Ti-SBA-15) with high specific surface area of 876.0 m2 g− 1. Based on “masking mechanism” from tanning, lactic acid was used as masking agent to obtain the uniform distribution of Zr and Ti species in the SBA-15 framework. The obtained materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS). The results reveal that in mesoporous materials, the presence of lactic acid gives rise to the uniform distribution of Zr and Ti species. The adsorption equilibrium and kinetic studies of Zr-Ti-SBA-15 materials show that the adsorption process conforms to the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, respectively. Regenerational experiments show that the Zr-Ti-SBA-15 displays a significant adsorption ability for methylene blue (MB) (up to 291.6 mg/g), along with good reusability, indicating promising potentials of commercialization. Methodologically, this work provides a wide range of possibilities for further development of SBA-15 based on bimetallic and sewage disposal.Graphical abstractHomogenous Zr-Ti-SBA-15 with high specific surface area was successfully by direct synthesis method. The as-prepared Zr-Ti-SBA-15 possessed excellent adsorption capacity and reusability.
Highlights
With the rapid development of industrialization, organic dyes as a serious water pollutant are applied in various industries including textiles, leather, paper-making, pigments and cosmetics [1, 2], statistically with more than 7 × 105 tons of dyes produced annually around the world, about 12% of which are lost during the processing process and approximately 20% of which are discharged with effluent
A serious of peaks around 2θ = 30°, 50°, 60°, 25°, 48°, 55° and 62° corresponding to pure ZrO2 and TiO2 crystal, is observed on Zr-Ti-SBA-15-C0, but no distinct diffraction peak is found in Zr-Ti-SBA-15, implying that there is no crystallized ZrO2 and TiO2 formed in the Zr-Ti-SBA-15 sample, which may be contributed to the excellent masking ability of lactic acid for zirconium sulfate and titanium sulfate, leading to a lower hydrolysis rate of zirconium sulfate and titanium sulfate
There are no evident peaks in Zr-TiSBA-15-C0, which may be due to the formation of titanium dioxide and zirconia partly destroyed the ordered structure of the SBA-15 [26], visually proved by transmission electron microscope (TEM) images (Fig. 4) visually
Summary
With the rapid development of industrialization, organic dyes as a serious water pollutant are applied in various industries including textiles, leather, paper-making, pigments and cosmetics [1, 2], statistically with more than 7 × 105 tons of dyes produced annually around the world, about 12% of which are lost during the processing process and approximately 20% of which are discharged with effluent. Porous nanostructured materials as adsorbent of organic dyes have been one of the most extensively studied materials owing to its large surface and abundant active sites [9], of which SBA-15 materials as a typical representative representing suitable support exhibit wellaligned nanochannels, high surface area, large pore diameter and excellent thermal stability [10], with its modification by metal atoms, including Zr [11], Ti [12], Al [13], Fe [14], widely reported in the adsorption and catalytic fields, and investigations to Ti-SBA-15 used for effective removal of organic dyes from a system attracting more attentions of reaesrchers [15] Zhang and his group [16] prepared a series of Ti-containing SBA-15 samples in the self-generated acidic condition with catalytic tests indicating that Ti-SBA-15 showed much higher photodegradation ability towards RhB than pure TiO2 and the work from Swapan K. MB adsorption on Zr-Ti-SBA-15 materials and the reusability of Zr-Ti-SBA-15 are studied as well
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