Nano-silica hybrid SDB carriers with high strength and hydrophobicity: synthesis, characterization and their application as sorbents of Ni2+

In Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE), the strength and hydrophobicity of styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer (SDB) carrier are key limitation factors for practical applications. In this paper, a surface-modified nano-SiO 2 (KH570-SiO 2 ) was used to improve the strength and hydrophobicity of SDB. Then, copolymerization of KH570SiO 2 with St, DVB to produce KH570-SiO 2 /SDB, Divinyl benzene (DVB), styrene (St) glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) to produce KH570-SiO 2 /GMA/SDB. The two kinds of new carriers were characterized by scanning electron microscope, static water contact angle, N 2 adsorption–desorption, transform infrared spectrometry and thermogravimetric analysis. Compared with SDB, both KH570-SiO 2 /SDB and KH570SiO 2 /GMA/SDB show better performances, such as a higher hydrophobicity(147° and 145°, respective), a higher strength(107.11 N and 115.37 N, respectively), a better thermal stability(373.8 and 435.67 ℃, respectively), and a larger specific surface area(487.253 and 463.673 m 2 /g, respective). The Nickel ion was uesd as the model ion of Platinum ion. And then the Ni 2+ adsorption performances of KH570-SiO 2 /SDB and KH570-SiO 2 /GMA/SDB were studied. Experiments show that KH570-SiO 2 /GMA/SDB has a much higher adsorption rate and a bigger adsorption amount. Refinement indicates that the adsorption behaviors of SDB, KH570-SiO 2 /SDB and KH570-SiO 2 /GMA/SDB with Ni 2+ are according to pseudo-first-order kinetic. The adsorption of SDB and KH570-SiO 2 /GMA/SDB obeyed Freundlich isotherm, while the adsorption of KH570-SiO 2 /SDB obeyed Langmuir isotherm.