Extraction of methylmercury and ethylmercury from aqueous solution using surface sulfhydryl-functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Guangzhu Li; Miao Liu; Zhuqing Zhang; Chao Geng; Zhongbo Wu; Xin Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2014.03.026

Extraction of methylmercury and ethylmercury from aqueous solution using surface sulfhydryl-functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2014 Jun 15:424:124-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2014.03.026. Epub 2014 Mar 19.

Authors

Guangzhu Li¹, Miao Liu², Zhuqing Zhang³, Chao Geng⁴, Zhongbo Wu⁵, Xin Zhao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resource and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China; Environmental Monitoring Center of Jilin Province, Changchun 130011, PR China. Electronic address: zhaoxin.wing@163.com.
² Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resource and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China. Electronic address: lgzzuolin@126.com.
³ Environmental Monitoring Center of Jilin Province, Changchun 130011, PR China. Electronic address: 416134832@qq.com.
⁴ Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China. Electronic address: 254949273@qq.com.
⁵ Environmental Monitoring Center of Jilin Province, Changchun 130011, PR China. Electronic address: 123810319@qq.com.
⁶ Environmental Monitoring Center of Jilin Province, Changchun 130011, PR China. Electronic address: 304871909@qq.com.

PMID: 24767508
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2014.03.026

Abstract

Surface sulfhydryl-functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles were prepared, aiming to extract trace alkylmercury from aqueous solution. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, ED, EDX, DLS, FTIR, and SERS. Compare with that the non-sulfhydryl-functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 exhibited almost no affinity for CH3Hg(+) and CH3CH2Hg(+); the sulfhydryl-functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 exhibited high adsorption affinity for them, resulting from chelating interaction by surface sulfhydryl group, and the adsorption was not significantly impacted by pH within the range of 3.5-9.0 or coexisting metal ions. The monolayer adsorption on surface of Fe3O4@SiO2-RSH could reach equilibrium in 2 min. Moreover, the CH3Hg(+) and CH3CH2Hg(+) adsorbed on Fe3O4@SiO2-RSH could be quickly separated from the matrix in a magnetic field and desorbed easily by acetonitrile and l-cysteine aqueous solution or HCl solution, and the recoveries were more than 80%. Findings of the present work highlight the potential for using Fe3O4@SiO2-RSH magnetic nanoparticles as effective and reusable adsorbents for extraction of ultra trace alkylmercury from environmental water samples.

Keywords: Ethylmercury; Extraction; Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) magnetic nanoparticles; Methylmercury; Sulfhydryl-functionalized.