Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous silica from beach sands as silica source

Abstract

The amorphous mesoporous silica was successfully synthesized from beach sand sources. Dodecyl amine, DDA, was used as a mesoporous template under a sol-gel reaction. The synthesized mesoporous silica has a high specific surface area 766.40 m2/g, pore volume 0.51 cc/g, average pore diameter in mesoporous range 3.04 nm, and relatively high acidity value 0.88 mmol/g. It was found that rotation speed during the addition of DDA affects greatly the porosity formation, with higher rotation speed favors porosity formation.