Extraction and physical characterization of amorphous silica made from corn cob ash at variable pH conditions via sol gel processing

Published Date
25 October 2015, Vol.30:249–253, doi:10.1016/j.jiec.2015.05.029

Author 

Jaehong Shim ^a

Palanivel Velmurugan ^b

Byung-Taek Oh ^b,,

aSchool of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0817, USA

bDivision of Biotechnology, Advanced Institute of Environment and Bioscience, College of Environmental and Bioresource Sciences, Chonbuk National University, Iksan 570-752, Jeonbuk, South Korea

Received 2 March 2015. Revised 27 May 2015. Accepted 30 May 2015. Available online 5 June 2015.

Abstract

Herein, we disclose a novel approach for the synthesis of nano-silica using corn cob ash (CCA). Also, we identify that silica is amorphous at pH 7 and crystalline at pH 10 at the critical salt concentration for monovalent NaOH. A zeta potential study was used to characterize the surface charge of nanoparticles. The silica nanoparticles were characterized by SEM-EDS, XRD, FTIR, TEM and XRD confirmed the crystalline nature and TEM images showed spherical silica nanoparticles. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, cation exchange capacity, and N₂ analyses showed excellent support material for catalysis at pH 7. The CCA-mediated synthesized particles showed excellent stability at pH 7.

Keywords

Corn cob

Silica

Different pH

Characterization

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