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Catechol-functionalized nanosilica for adsorption of germanium ions from aqueous media

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Abstract

We prepared the catechol-functionalized nanosilica for adsorption of germanium (Ge) ions from aqueous media. The functionalized nanosilica was characterized by FTIR, TGA, TEM, BET, and XPS. The influence of pH, Ge initial concentration, and time of the adsorption process was investigated. Under the optimum condition, the maximum adsorption capacity of Ge ions was 0.048 mg m−2 at pH 4.5. The adsorption mechanism is the chelating interaction between hydroxyl and Ge(OH)4. The functionalized nanosilica was able to selectively adsorb Ge ions from tellurium(IV) and boron. Langmuir isotherm was found to better fit the experiment data rather than Freundlich isotherm. The kinetics of the adsorption process of Ge ions on the functionalized nanosilica was investigated using the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, and the results indicated that the pseudo-second order equation model provided the best correlation with the experimental results.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 51464024), Applied Basic Research Projects in Yunnan Province (2013FB096), and Young and Middle-aged Academic Technology Leader Backup Talent Cultivation Program in Yunnan Province (2012HB008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, China

    Wei Cui, Shixing Wang, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang & Gengwei Zhang

  2. National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, China

    Wei Cui, Shixing Wang, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang & Gengwei Zhang

  3. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Wei Cui, Shixing Wang, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang & Gengwei Zhang

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  1. Wei Cui
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  2. Shixing Wang
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  3. Jinhui Peng
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  4. Libo Zhang
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  5. Gengwei Zhang
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Correspondence to Shixing Wang.

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Cui, W., Wang, S., Peng, J. et al. Catechol-functionalized nanosilica for adsorption of germanium ions from aqueous media. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 77, 666–674 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-015-3898-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-015-3898-7

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