Novel organosilica porous materials for highly efficient molybdenum extraction from leach solutions

Abstract

This study presents the fabrication and comprehensive investigation of novel organosilica materials as solid extractants of molybdenum ions. The novel porous materials were synthesized using one-stage co-condensation procedure and the fabricated particles were characterized by SEM, XPS, XRD, and NMR techniques. The impact of equilibrium pH, shaking time, temperature, and metal ion concentration on the performance of Mo(VI) removal was examined. For the single-Mo solutions, the optimum pH was found to be 2–3 and the equilibrium was obtained after 5 min. The extraction mechanism primarily relied on chemical interactions taking place on the material's surface, facilitated by the presence of imine and amine groups, which exhibited strong binding affinity toward oxomolybdate ions. The spherical ILBr-D4EI demonstrated the highest removal efficiency for Mo(VI) with the real capacity of 325 mg/g. Additionally, it exhibited remarkable selectivity towards the coexisting Al(III), Co(II) and Ni(II) ions, as reflected by separation factors of 4x104. These findings emphasize the potential of these novel organosilica materials as promising materials for efficient molybdenum extraction, offering insights for future advancements in this field.