Open AccessRational synthesis of imprinted organofunctional sol-gel materials for toxic metal separation. 1998 annual progress report
Author(s) -
Tabitha M. Cook,
Sheng Dai,
Craig E. Barnes
Publication year - 1998
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/13752
Subject(s) - metal ions in aqueous solution , metal , sol gel , aqueous solution , molecular imprinting , materials science , mesoporous material , inorganic chemistry , selectivity , chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , catalysis
'The objective of this program is to rationally design and synthesize imprinted sol-gel SiO{sub 2} and SiO{sub 2}/M{prime}O{sub 2} (M{prime} = Ti, Zr) materials containing Si-X-L binding groups through template approaches and develop a scientific basis for metal ion binding and recognition by such imprinted organofunctional materials. These hydrophilic metal oxide-based materials are expected to remove metal ions from aqueous solutions intrinsically fast (in comparison to hydrophobic organic polymers), and the imprinted binding sites are expected to exhibit enhanced selectivity and affinity of target metal ions. This report summarizes research after the first eight months of a three-year project. The authors have successfully prepared sol-gel materials grafted with organic ligands specific for binding target RCRA metal ions. When these organofunctional sol-gel materials are exposed to solutions containing target metal ions, they quickly remove the metal ions from aqueous solutions. In many such sol-gel materials, the metal ions absorbed in the sol-gel materials can be easily removed to regenerate the organofunctional sol-gel materials for subsequent cycles of metal ion removal. Work has commenced in two main areas: (1) preliminary evaluation of target ion binding and imprinting effects, (2) studies of mesoporous materials for the separation of large metal ions such as UO{sub 2}{sup 2+} and TcO{sub 4}.