Ultra-Fast Synthesis of Thiol-Functionalized Organosilica (OS-SH) for Adsorption of Hg(II) from Aqueous Solution

Abstract Thiol-functionalized organosilica (OS-SH) was synthesized via an ultra-fast sol–gel procedure without using any templates. The OS-SH was then employed as an adsorbent to remove Hg(II) ions from aqueous solution. Pore structure and material morphology were characterized by FTIR, TGA, SEM, TEM, and N 2 sorption measurements. The OS-SH adsorbents demonstrated an outstanding adsorption performance (72.48 mg g –1 at pH 3). The adsorption isotherm can be best described by the Langmuir model, suggesting a monolayer adsorption behavior by chemical mechanism. The adsorption kinetics of Hg(II) on OS‑SH was well fitted by the pseudo-second-order model. The synthesis approach proposed in this study provides a much simple, tender as well as highly efficient way to design functional porous adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal ions.