Novel Magnetic Silica-Ionic Liquid Nanocomposites for Wastewater Treatment

Ayman M Atta; Yaser M Moustafa; Abdelrahman O Ezzat; Ahmed I Hashem

doi:10.3390/nano10010071

Novel Magnetic Silica-Ionic Liquid Nanocomposites for Wastewater Treatment

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2019 Dec 28;10(1):71. doi: 10.3390/nano10010071.

Authors

Ayman M Atta¹, Yaser M Moustafa², Abdelrahman O Ezzat¹, Ahmed I Hashem³

Affiliations

¹ Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City 11727, Cairo, Egypt.
³ Chemistry Department, College of Science, Ain Shams university, Abasia 11566, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

In this work, new imidazolium silica-ionic liquids doped with magnetite nanocomposites are prepared for use in the field of water purification owing to their unique properties, which can be manipulated by an external magnetic field. A silane precursor based on aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) condensed with p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and glyoxal in an acetic acid solution is used to prepare disiloxyimidazolium ionic liquid (SIMIL). The silica composite (Si-IL) and silica-coated magnetite (Fe₃O₄-Si-IL) composites are prepared using the sol-gel technique. The chemical structures, morphologies, crystalline lattice structures, thermal stabilities, surface charges, surface areas, particle sizes, and magnetic characteristics of Fe₃O₄-Si-IL and Si-IL are investigated. The Fe₃O₄-Si-IL and Si-IL nanocomposites show excellent chemical adsorption capacities as 653 and 472 mg g^-1, respectively, during times ranging 90 to 110 min when they are used as adsorbents to remove Congo red (CR) dye as a water pollutant.

Keywords: adsorbents; imidazolium cations; ionic liquid; magnetite; nanocomposite; silica nanoparticles.

Grants and funding

2019/63/King Saud University