Pouretedal and Kazemi International Journal of Industrial Chemistry 2012, 3:20 http://www.industchem.

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RESEARCH

Open Access

Characterization of modified silica aerogel using sodium silicate precursor and its application as adsorbent of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions
HR Pouretedal1* and M Kazemi2
Abstract Sodium silicate (Na2O/SiO2 = 1:3.3) as a precursor is used to prepare silica aerogel. The prepared silica aerogel is modified by mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane. The modified silica aerogel is characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer, Emmett, Teller method, and transmission electron microscopy. The adsorption and removal of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions from aqueous samples using modified silica aerogel are studied. The experimental conditions such as pH of samples, initial concentration of cations, contact time, and adsorbent dose are optimized to attain the maximum adsorption capacity. The optimum values are obtained as follows: contact time = 30 min, adsorbent dose = 0.05 g for Cd2+and Pb2+ ions and 0.1 g for Cu2+ ions, pH = 6 for Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions, and pH = 4 for Cu2+ ions. The equilibrium data are fitted well by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption capacities for Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions are found 90.1, 181.8, and 250.0 mg/g, respectively. Keywords: Silica aerogel, Adsorbent, Sodium silicate, Metal ion, Modification Background Silica aerogels are materials that show unusual properties. The high specific surface area (500 to 1,200 m2/g), high porosity (80 to 99.8 %), low density (approximately 0.003 g/ cm3), high thermal insulation value (0.005 W/mK), ultra low dielectric constant (k = 1.0 to 2.0), and low index of refraction (approximately 1.05) are the advantages of these materials. The nanoporous network of interconnected primary particles is due to these properties [1]. Because of their unique texture, silica aerogels are promising materials as super-thermal insulators, catalytic supports, adsorbents, and host materials for drug delivery systems. The synthesis of silica aerogels has received significant attention especially during the last two decades. Some investigators have studied the use of different precursors, and many have focused on the modification of synthesis parameters. Recently, many research works have been devoted to ambient pressure drying which makes the production commercial and industrial [2-4].
During this decade, many researchers have attempted to reduce the cost of aerogel synthesis. In brief, these attempts took one of two approaches. The first involved the use of cheap precursors, and the second is concerned with the development of novel drying techniques that made it possible to synthesize aerogels at ambient pressure (known as an ambient-drying or evaporative drying) instead of supercritical drying [5-7]. Most of the recent reports of various forms of silica aerogels such as powder, granules, films, and bulks utilize at least one of the above approaches and sometimes more than one approach [8-10]. The applications of the silica aerogel have expanded into many fields [11,12]. They are used as (1) fillers for paints, varnishes, etc.; (2) thermal and acoustic insulation materials; (3) adsorbents and catalyst supports; and (4) electronic materials such as Cerenkov detectors and sensor materials. The existence of heavy metals in wastewaters contributes to water toxicity and represents an increasing danger for the environment, human beings, and other living organisms. In addition, to rock leaching due to some external effects, these effluents discharge from various anthropogenic sources such as power plants, chemical

* Correspondence: HR_POURETEDAL@mut-es.ac.ir 1Faculty of Applied Chemistry, Malek-ashtar University of Technology, Shahin-Shahr, 1387763681 Iran Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

2012 Pouretedal and Kazemi et. al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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manufacturing, painting, mining, metallurgy, electroplating, and many other industries [13-15]. In the present study, we report the synthesis of silica aerogel by using sodium silicate as precursor. The prepared silica aerogel is modified and applied as adsorbent for the removal of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions from aqueous samples. The characterization of prepared silica aerogel is also reported in this study.

Results and discussion

Characterization of silica aerogel

The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra of unmodified and modified silica aerogel are shown in Figure 1. The wide peak with strong intensity was 1,000 to 1,100 cm1, and the weak peak near 800 cm1 was assigned to the asymmetric and symmetric bending of Si-O-Si bonds, respectively [16-18]. The strong peak near 470 cm1 is attributable to the bending of the O-Si-O bonds. In the spectra of unmodified aerogel, the wide bond at 3,426 cm1 and the peaks at 1,640 and 944 cm1 correspond to the hydroxyl groups adsorbed on the surface as well as the bending of the H-O-H bonds and the stretching of the Si-OH bonds, respectively. The stretching vibrations of S-H and C-H appeared at 2,564 and 2,932 cm1, respectively, in the spectra of modified silica aerogel which confirmed the modification of silica aerogel surface with mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) [17,18]. The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and pore size distribution of unmodified silica aerogel are shown in Figures 2 and 3, and the obtained data are collected in Table 1. The type IV isotherm curves well-defined step clearly indicates that these materials possess mesoporous structure. The isotherms of nitrogen adsorption exhibited an abrupt increase at P/P0 is approximately 0.70, which is

characteristic for capillary condensation within the uniform mesopores of the materials (Figure 2a). The values of specific surface area, pore volume, and pore diameter considerably decrease after modification of silica aerogel with MPTMS (Table 1). The average pore diameter of the unmodified and modified silica aerogel is 7.6 and 3.9 nm, respectively. The mean pore diameter of the unmodified silica aerogel is obtained from Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) plot (Figure 2b). The decrease of pore volume has been observed for modified silica aerogel by the filling of micropores in the substrate with the modifier [19,20]. Figure 4 shows the TEM images of unmodified and modified silica aerogel. The synthesized aerogel exhibit a porous network structure which contains 50 to 60 nm spherical solid clusters and pores below 120 nm between them. The particle distribution of aerogels is uniform. Silica aerogels exhibit a porous structure with fine particulate morphology, and the modified aerogel also showed porous structure but with less pores size in comparison with unmodified silica aerogels. The TGA curve of modified silica aerogel is shown in Figure 5. A little weight loss at temperature 320 C is seen, and the decomposition of aerogel with weight loss of 20.2 % occurred at higher temperature of up to 800 C. An XRD pattern (Figure 6) shows an amorphous structure for synthesized silica aerogel.
Adsorption by modified silica aerogel Effect of pH

The effect of the pH of aqueous samples on the adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions by modified silica aerogel is shown in Figure 7. As seen, the adsorption capacity of adsorbent increased with increasing of the samples pH. The characteristic of chelation mechanism and the less insignificant competitive adsorption of hydrogen ions at higher pH are due to increase of the removal yield [18-20]. The following reactions may take place at the solid-solution interface of modified silica aerogel with MPTMS at different pHs [21]. SH H SH2 SH M2 SHM2 SH OH SHOH 1 2 3

Figure 1 FT-IR spectra of unmodified (a) and modified (b) silica aerogel.

Equation 1 indicates the protonation and deprotonation reactions of the SH groups of MPTMS in silica aerogel. Equation 2 shows the formation of surface complexes of M2+ ion with the SH groups. The adsorption of OH ions from the solution through a hydrogen bond on the SH groups occurred at alkaline pHs (Equation 3). The protonation of SH groups (Equation 1) was favored versus the

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Figure 2 Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms (a) and BET plot of unmodified silica aerogel.

complex formation of M2+ (Equation 2) at lower pH. The available sites of adsorbent for complex formation were reduced with protonation of SH groups. On the other hand, the electrostatic repulsion between the cations and the surface of modified silica aerogel increased with protonation of SH groups. Thus, the adsorption of cations decreased with decreasing aqueous sample pH. By increasing the pH of solutions, the protonation of SH groups was reduced, and the number of SH sites on the surface of modified silica aerogel for cations adsorption (Equation 2) increased as well as its adsorption capacity. However, the adsorption capacity of adsorbents was reduced at the upper pH of 6 for Cd2+ and Pb2+ and pH of 4 for Cu2+ ion. The increasing adsorption of Cd2+, Pb2+, and Cu2+ with increasing pH shows the ion exchange mechanism for these ions. A decrease in the removal yield at upper optimum pH for each cation is due

to the formation of soluble hydroxy complexes [22]. The difference in the adsorption behavior of different heavy metal ions may be because of the difference in their ion exchange capacity on the surface depending on their charge density, extent of hydrolysis, and solubility of hydrolyzed metal ions in solution under the present experimental condition [22-24].
Effect of initial concentration

Figure 8 indicates the effect of initial concentration of cations on the adsorption capacity. The reduction of the removal yield was observed with the increase of initial concentration of M2+ ions in range of 50 to 400 mg/L. The sufficient adsorption sites are available for adsorption of cations at a lower initial concentration. Also, the fraction of adsorption for each ion is independent of its initial concentration. However, the available sites of

Figure 3 Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms (a) and pore size distribution (b) of modified silica aerogel.

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Table 1 The N2 adsorptiondesorption data of unmodified and modified silica aerogel

Silica aerogel S Unmodified modified (m2/g) 602.0 387.9 BET data P (cm3/g) 1.1455 0.4561 D (nm) 7.59 3.89

S, Specific surface area; P, pore volume; D, average pore diameter.

adsorbent were reduced at higher concentrations of the adsorbate [21,22].

Effect of contact time

The influence contact time of adsorbent and adsorbates in the range of 10 to 60 min is indicated in Figure 9. The conditions are optimum pH and 50 mg/L of M2+ ions. The removal yield of cations increased with the increasing contact time until equilibrium is attained at 30 min. Hence, the time of 30 min is experimentally required to attain equilibrium of the modified silica aerogel with MPTMS.
Effect of adsorbent dose

Figure 5 Thermogravimetric curve of modified silica aerogel.

Figure 10 shows the removal yield of cations versus the adsorbent dose in range of 0.01 to 0.12 g. A sharp increase in the capacity adsorption was observed for Cd2+ and Pb2+ with the increase of adsorbent dose from 0.01 to 0.05 g. Meanwhile, increase in the adsorption is seen up to 0.10 g of adsorbent for Cu2+ ion. Hence, the optimal dose is 0.05 g for Cd2+ and Pb2+ and 0.10 g for Cu2+ ion. However, the greater availability of functional groups on the surface area with the increase of adsorbent dose is due to the higher removal percent. The difference in the removal yield of different cations at the same conditions such as initial concentration, adsorbent dose, and contact time may be attributed to the difference in their chemical affinity with respect to SH groups on the surface of the adsorbent [23]. The adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions is also studied in a sample with initial concentration of 50 mg/L of each ion, 0.1 g/L adsorbent, and pH of 5. The removal

efficiencies of 48.2, 60.7, and 76.1 % are obtained for Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions, respectively, at 30 min. However, the decreasing removal efficiencies of cations are expected because of the limitation of the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent.
Study of adsorption model

The equilibrium adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ is studied as a function of initial concentration in the range of 50 to 400 mg/L. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms are used to this study. The linear equations of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms are represented in Equations 4 and 5, respectively, Ceq=qeq l=KLqm Ceq=qm logqeq logKF l=n logCeq 4 5

Study of adsorption modelwhere qeq (milligram/gram) is the amount of cation adsorbed per unit mass of adsorbent particles at equilibrium, Ceq (milligram/liter)

Figure 4 TEM images of (a) unmodified and (b) modified silica aerogel.

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1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 6 XRD pattern of silica aerogel.

is the equilibrium concentration of the cation in the aqueous phase, KL is the equilibrium constant (liter/milligram) related to the energy of the adsorption and qm is the maximum adsorption capacity (milligram/gram), KF and n are Freundlich isotherm constants related to the adsorption capacity and adsorption intensity, respectively [24,25]. Therefore, in Langmuir isotherm, a plot Ceq/qeq versus Ceq should be a straight line with a slope 1/qm and intercept as l/KLqm. Also, a plot of log qeq versus log Ceq is linear with the slope 1/n and intercepts log KF accordance with Freundlich isotherm. The obtained data from linear isotherms are collected in Table 2.

The data of adsorption isotherms show that the adsorptive behavior of cations on modified silica aerogel satisfies Langmuir and Freundlich assumptions in accordance with the R2 values. As seen, the maximum adsorption capacities for Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions are found to be 90.1, 181.8, and 250.0 mg/g, respectively. The n values are greater than in unity and indicate chemisorptions of adsorbates on the adsorbent. Isotherms with n > 1 are classified as L-type isotherms that show a high affinity between adsorbate and adsorbent [26,27].

Figure 7 Effect of pH on the removal yield of cations; contact time = 30 min; adsorbent dose = 0.1 g for Cu(II) and 0.05 g for Cd(II) and Pb(II); initial concentration = 50 mg/L.

Figure 8 Effect of initial concentration on the removal yield of cations; contact time = 30 min; adsorbent dose = 0.1 g for Cu(II) and 0.05 g for Cd(II) and Pb(II); pH = 4 for Cu(II) and 6 for Cd(II) and Pb(II).

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Table 2 Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm constants for adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions
Adsorbents Cu(II) Cd(II) Pb(II) Langmuir constants qm(mg/g) KL (L/mg) R2 83.3 200.0 250.0 0.039 0.052 0.143 0.971 0.996 0.997 Freundlich constants KF 16.1 25.1 48.3 n 3.62 2.62 3.41 R2 0.897 0.845 0.883

Figure 9 Effect of contact time on the removal yield of cations; initial concentration = 50 mg/L; adsorbent dose = 0.1 g for Cu(II) and 0.05 g for Cd(II) and Pb(II); pH = 4 for Cu(II) and 6 for Cd(II) and Pb(II).

constant of pseudo-first order sorption (L.min-1). The plot of log (qeq qt) versus t will give a linear relationship from which k1 and qeq can be determined from the slope and intercept in the graph, respectively. The pseudo-first order equation (Lagergrens equation) describes adsorption in solidliquid systems based on the sorption capacity of solids [28]. The pseudo-second order chemisorption kinetic equation [28,29] is expressed as Equation 7, t=qt 1=k2qeq2 t=qeq 7

Study of kinetic adsorption

The study of adsorption kinetics describes the adsorbate uptake rate and evidently, this rate controls the residence time of the adsorbate at a solid liquid interface [27-29]. The kinetics of the adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ on modified silica aerogel is studied using pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models. The pseudo-first order equation [27] is generally expressed as follows: logqeqqt logqeqk1t=2:303 where qeq and qt are the sorption capacities at equilibrium and at time t, respectively (mg.g-1), and k1 is the rate 6

where qeq and qt are the sorption capacity at equilibrium and at time t, (mg.g-1), respectively, and k2 is the rate constant of the pseudo-second order sorption (g.mg-1. min-1). The pseudo-second-order rate expression has been applied for analyzing chemisorption kinetics from liquid solutions [29]. If the pseudo-second order kinetics is applicable to the experimental data, the plot of t/qt versus t should give a linear relationship from which qeq and k2q2eq can be determined from the slope and intercept of the plot, respectively. The obtained kinetic rate constants of pseudo-first and pseudo-second order of sorption of Cu2+, Cd2+,and Pb2+ on the modified silica aerogel are collected in Table 3. Fitted equilibrium adsorption capacities derived from Equation 7 for each cation are similar those observed experimentally. However, correlation coefficients values for the pseudo-second-order kinetic and pseudo-first order model are close to 1.0. Given the good agreement between model fit and experimentally observed equilibrium adsorption capacity, in addition to the large correlation coefficients, this suggests that Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions adsorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics and were adsorbed onto modified silica aerogel via chemical interaction.

Comparison of adsorption capacity (qm) of Cu, Cd and Pb ions on several adsorbents is given in Table 4.
Synthesis of silica aerogel

Figure 10 Effect of adsorbent dose on the removal yield of cations; initial concentration = 50 mg/L; contact time = 30 min; pH = 4 for Cu(II) and 6 for Cd(II) and Pb(II).

Industrial grade of sodium silicate (Bahman Gostar Investment Co., Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran) is used as a source of cost-effective silica sols. An 83.37 g of sodium silicate with molar ratio of SiO2:Na2O = 3.3:1 is dissolved in 316.62 ml deionized water. The resulting solution is stirred

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Table 3 Kinetic rate constants of pseudo-first and pseudo-second order of sorption of Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+
Adsorbent Cu(II) Cd(II) Pb(II) qexp(mg.g-1) 72.6 159.3 165.4 2.1 3.2 4.1 Pseudo-first order k1 10-2 (min-1) qeq (mg.g-1) 70.5 165.6 174.6
2+

Pseudo-second order R2 0.999 0.980 0.997

, Cd2+ and Pb
2+

k2 105 (g.mg-1.min-1) 15.7 7.6 8.2

qeq (mg.g-1) 105.3 263.2 277.8

R2 0.999 0.965 0.995

Kinetic rate constants of pseudo-first and pseudo-second order of sorption of Cu 300 mg/L.

on the modified silica aerogel with initial concentration

in the presence of sulfonated copolymer strong cationic resin as H+-form for 10 min to remove sodium ions. The pH of silica sol is in the range of 2 to 3 after this ion exchange, then 1 mol/L NaOH solution is added to the silica sol to raise its pH to the range of 4 to 5 for gelation. The obtained silica sols are stirred for 2 min and then transferred into a plastic beaker where the sols aged into hydrogels within about 30 min. Then, the hydrogels are immersed in deionized water to age them for 24 h at 60 C to strengthen the networks of the gels. The obtained gel is also aged for 48 h in acetone solvent for two times and for 72 h in n-hexane solvent at room temperature. Finally, the aged gels are separated and dried at 50 C in a saturated atmosphere of n-hexane. The chemicals n-hexane, acetone, and NaOH (with highest purity) are prepared from petrochemical company of Iran (Petrochemical Commercial Co., Tehran, Iran).
Modification of silica aerogel

300 C for 4 h prior to surface area measurements. The FTIR spectrum recorded from KBr pellets (99 wt.% of KBr) on Nicolet Impact 400D FT-IR spectrophotometer (Spectralab Scientific Corporation, Markham, Toronto, Canada). The morphology of synthesized silica aerogel before and after surface modification is studied by Philips CM10 transmission electron microscope (TEM) operating at 120 kV. The supporting grids were formvar-covered, carbon-coated, and 200-mesh copper grids. A diffractometer Bruker D8 Advance (Bruker Daltonik GmbH, Bremen, Germany) with anode of Cu ( = 1.5406 of Cu K) and filter of Ni was applied to record the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of silica aerogel. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was carried out with Shimadzu DT-40 thermal analyzer (Tokyo, Japan).
Adsorption of metal ions

The surface of synthesized of silica aerogel is modified by MPTMS (purchased from Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA). An 11.3 g MPTMS is dissolved in 56.85 g n-hexane. The synthesized silica aerogel is added to MPTMS solution and the obtained mixture is stirred for 3 h. Then, the modified silica aerogel is separated and washed with n-hexane. Finally, the modified silica aerogel is derided in a rich atmosphere of n-hexane for 48 h at room temperature and for 5 h at 50 C.
Methods of characterization

The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms were measured by the BET method using nitrogen as an adsorption gas at 77 K using Belsorp Mini II instrument (BEL Japan, Inc., Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan). Samples were out gassed at

The adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions by modified silica aerogel as an adsorbent is studied in a batch procedure. The synthetic stock solutions of metals ions are prepared by dissolving required quantity of analytical grade of nitrate salts of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions in deionized water. The stock solutions were further diluted with deionized water to the desired concentration for obtaining the test solutions. All chemical nitrate salts and nitric acid are used from Merck (Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA). A known weight of adsorbent (e.g., 0.01 to 0.12 g) was equilibrated with 50 mL of the cation solution of known concentration (e.g., 50 to 400 mg/L) in a polyethylene vessel at room temperature in a thermostatic mechanical shaker for a known period (10 to 60 min) of time. Mechanical shaker is used for all the adsorption experiments for agitating the sample for a desired contact time. The pH of samples is controlled in the range 2 to 7 with addition of

Table 4 Comparison of adsorption capacity (qm) of Cu, Cd and Pb ions on several adsorbents
Adsorbent Synthesized silica aerogel from tetramethoxysilane modified with mercapto Activated carbon prepared from cashew nut shells Nano zerovalent iron particles Polyazomethineamides Chitosan crosslinked with both epichlorohydrin and triphosphate, In this work Ions Cu Cd, Pb Cd Cu, Cd, Pb Cu, Cd, Pb Cu, Cd, Pb qm (mg/g) 51.0 14.3, 28.9 769.2 470.7, 462.3, 452.1 130.7, 83.7, 199.9 83.3, 200.0, 250.0 References [24] [30] [26] [31] [32]

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1.0 mol/L of HNO3 and NaOH solutions by pH-analyzer of Metroholm 661 (Metroholm Company, Ionenstrasse, Herisau, Switzerland). After equilibration the suspension was centrifuged for 15 min at 7,000 rpm, and the sample solution then was analyzed using Atomic Adsorption Spectrometer (AAS, Perkin Elmer 300, PerkinElmer Inc., Waltham, MA, USA) operating with an air acetylene flame. The effect of several parameters, such as pH, adsorbate concentrations, contact time, and adsorbent dose is optimized. The percent of removal is calculated using Equation 8, %Removal C0Ceq=C0 100 where C0 and Ceq are the initial and equilibrium concentration of metal ions of sample solution (mg/L). 8

9. 10.

11. 12. 13.

14.

15. 16.

17.

Conclusions Sodium silicate as a safe and inexpensive precursor can be used to prepare silica aerogel with a high surface of 600 m2/g. The modification of prepared silica aerogel is due to the application of it as a suitable adsorbent to remove some heavy metals such as Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous samples in the range of 50 to 400 mg/L. The high removal yields (76 % to 99 %) in short contact time of 30 min at the presence of low dose of adsorbent (0.05 to 0.1 g) are the precious advantages of modified silica aerogel.
Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Author details
1Faculty

18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

of Applied Chemistry, Malek-ashtar University of Technology, Shahin-Shahr, 1387763681 Iran. 2Department of Chemistry, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch, Shahreza and Fadak Group, Isfahan 37541-13115, Iran. Received: 11 March 2012 Accepted: 29 May 2012 Published: 23 August 2012 References 1. 2. Dorcheh AS, Abbasi MH (2008) Silica aerogel; synthesis, properties and characterization. J Mater Processing Technol 199:1026 Schwertfeger F, Frank D, Schmidt M (1998) Hydrophobic waterglass based aerogels without solvent exchange or supercritical drying. J Non-Cryst Solids 225:2429 Lee CJ, Kim GS, Hyun SH (2002) Synthesis of silica aerogels from waterglass via new modification ambient drying. J Mater Sci 37:22372241 Rao AP, Pajonk GM, Rao AV (2005) Effect of preparation conditions on the physical and hydrophobic properties of two step processed ambient pressure dried silica aerogel. J Mater Sci 40:34813489 Bhagat SD, Park K-T, Kim Y-H, Kim J-S, Han J-H (2008) A continuous production process for silica aerogel powders based on sodium silicate by fluidized bed drying of wet-gel slurry. Solid State Sci 10:11131116 Gao G-M, Liu D-R, Zou H-F, Zou L-C, Gan SC (2010) Preparation of silica aerogel from oil shale ash by fluidized bed drying. Powder Technol 197:283287 Shi F, Liu J-X, Song K, Wang Z-Y (2010) Cost-effective synthesis of silica aerogels from fly ash via ambient pressure drying. J Non-Crystalline Solids 356:22412246 Hwang SW, Kim T-Y, Hyun S-H (2010) Effect of surface modification conditions on the synthesis of mesoporous crack-free silica aerogel monoliths from waterglass via ambient-drying. Micropor Mesopor Mat 130:295302

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doi:10.1186/2228-5547-3-20 Cite this article as: Pouretedal and Kazemi: Characterization of modified silica aerogel using sodium silicate precursor and its application as adsorbent of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions. International Journal of Industrial Chemistry 2012 3:20.