Chitosan Coated Mesoporous Nano-Silica Gel as a Soil Amendment Material

Shameem Hasan,1,2 Alok Vats,1 Rajesh Shende,1 Tushar Ghosh2

1
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology,
Rapid City, SD 57701 USA, Rajesh.Shende@sdsmt.edu
2
Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211.

Porous silica nanoparticles were successfully synthesized at room The nanocomposite materials obtained was characterized using field emission scanning 25
temperature using modified sol-gel technique. The size and shape of the electron microscopy (FSEM), EDS-X-ray microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and diffuse 20
particles were controlled by selecting appropriate surfactant micelles. In the reflective UV-vis spectroscopy.
synthesis approach tetra-methyl orthosilicate (TMOS), Pluronic-123, 15
methanol was used as precursor, surfactant and continuous phase

Moisture Uptake (% of body

weight)
10
respectively. The particles was characterized by XRD,TG-DSC, N2
adsorption, SEM, DR-UV spectroscopy, and EDS X-ray microanalysis. The 5

porous silica material exhibited a BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) surface area 0

of 420 m2g-1 . The moisture adsorption capacity of this material was tested in
the temperature range of 25 to 50 oC. This porous nano silica particles can be
used as soil amendment material for the retention of moisture and nutrient at
comparatively higher temperature.
The active soil amendment in certain geographical areas often demands a)
retention of higher moisture content in order to maintain physical conditions of Figure 1. a) SEM micrograph and b) EDS-X-ray microanalysis of nSiO2 gel material.
the soil for crop production, and thus, immobilization of top soil nutrients onto
the material is essential. Therefore, effective soil amendment using The particles size of the silica nanoparticles were found to be within the range of 50 to 150
conventional techniques usually require a large supply of nutrients to maintain nm in length and 20-40 nm in width (Figure 1.a). The EDS microanalysis in (Figure 1.b)
suitable soil conditions. Several researchers [1,2] have been investigated exhibited peaks for silica and oxygen, which are two major constituents of the silica
different organic materials and inorganic polymers as water manageable framework.
material for soil amendment with some success.
180 0 .1 6
In this present work, chitosan coated hybrid organic-inorganic mesoporous 160 0 .1 4
silica gel was synthesized as a potential soil amendment material. The 140 0 .1 2
performance of this material for higher moisture retention for a relatively
120
longer period of time and nutrient adsorption capacity has been investigated. 0 .1 0
100
The main objective of this work was to prepare a mesoporous material with 0 .0 8
Absorbance
CPS
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
T i m e (h r )
a) b)
Figure 3. a) Adsorption isotherm of water vapor on to mesostructure nSiO2 gel sample.
b) SEM micrograph of n-SiO2/C material.
Figure 3.a) shows the preliminary data of water vapor adsorption on nSiO2
material at room temperature, indicating the material’s potential as an adsorbent
for water vapor/moisture. Further investigation is needed to identify the reaction
b) mechanism for the adsorption of water vapor in presence of nSiO2 gel material.
The diffusivity of the water vapors from the nSiO2 at 25oC is estimated to be 10-
7
to 10-8 cm2/s. In yet another study, C-containing compound (e.g. urea) was
immobilized inside the core shell structure of nSiO2 (Figure 3.b) by using the
surface functionalizing agents. Studies will be undertaken to evaluate the
performance of n-SiO2/C towards water absorption and release. Investigations
will also involve preparation of a core-shell mesoporous silicate structure for
control water release.
Mesoporous Silica gel was prepared using modified sol-gel technique. The
nanocomposite materials obtained was characterized using FSEM, EDS-X-ray
microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and diffuse reflective UV-vis spectroscopy.

30-50% moisture and nutrient adsorption capacity at the temperature range of 80

0 .0 6 Preliminary data of water vapor adsorption on nSiO2 material at room
25-50°C. It is expected that the adsorbed moisture or nutrient will retain in the 60
0 .0 4 temperature was obtained. Also C-containing compound (urea) was
mesopores of the material and release slowly at adverse environmental 40
0 .0 2 immobilized inside the core shell structure of nSio2 by using the surface
conditions. 20
functionalizing agents.
0 0 .0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 200 250 300 350 400 450

In the synthesis approach, modified sol-gel technique was used to prepare
mesoporous silica gel using tetra-methyl orthosilicate (TMOS), Pluronic-123,
and methanol as precursor, surfactant, and continuous phase, respectively,
whereas, chitosan used as a binder. Chitosan is a non-toxic, biodegradable,
and biocompatible cationic polymer [3]. The approach used to prepare hybrid
organic-inorganic nanosilica gel relies on the principle of nucleation, growth,
and subsequent aggregation of nanoparticles in solution-phase.
2 θ W a v e le n g th (n m )
a) b)
Figure 2. a) X-ray diffraction pattern and b) diffuse reflective UV (DRUV) of nSiO2 gel material.
The XRD pattern (Figure 2.a) exhibits peak at 2θ = 2.01o, which is characteristic of
mesoporous material. Diffuse reflective UV spectroscopic analysis (Figure 2.b) showed
spectra in the range of 200-275 nm range can be assigned to tetrahedral silica structure. The
porous silica material exhibited a BET surface area of 420 m2g-1 .
[1] Arriaga, F. J. and Lowery, B. Soil Science. 2003, 168 (12), 888-889.
[2] Raju, K.M., Raju, M.P., and Mohan, Y.M. Polymer International. 2003,52,
768- 772.
[3] Hasan, S., Krishniah, A., Ghosh, T.K., Viswanath, D.S., Boddu, V.M.,
and Smith, E.D. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2006, 45, 5066-5077.