Naturally endowed oxide nanoparticles from carbon ash in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Chemical analysis of carbon ash powder obtained from water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia has revealed that 84.3% of the ash is pure carbon while the remaining percentage is combinations of oxide materials, mainly silicon and aluminium. These oxides were extracted by sintering the ash powder at 900°C. Shape and size of the obtained oxide powder were determined by transmission electron microscope (TEM). The result shows a quit spherical particles of two different sizes. The first size is around 250 nm while the other smaller one is about 70 nm. Silicon oxide particles might be clustering and are forming the bigger particles as they contribute around 80% out of the total oxides. While aluminium oxide, which is approximately 17.4% form the smaller ones. They have uniform shapes and size distributions. These naturally endowed nanomaterials could easily be extracted with a very low cost and can be separated into silicon oxide, which are potentially important for solar cells, whereas alumina might be used as dental nanocomposites.