Bis (2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) is a renowned extractant, favored for its affinity to selectively remove uranium via its P=O groups. We previously synthesized HDEHP-functionalized mesoporous silica microspheres for solid-phase uranium adsorption. Herein, we investigated the kinetic and isothermal behavior of uranyl ion adsorption in mesoporous silica microspheres functionalized with phosphate groups. Adsorption experiments were conducted by equilibrating 20 mg of silica samples with 50 mL of uranium solutions, with concentrations ranging from 10 to 100 mgU L−1 for isotherms and 100 mgU L−1 for kinetics. Three distinct samples were prepared with varying HDEHP to TEOS molar ratios (x = 0.16 and 0.24) and underwent hydrothermal treatment at different temperatures, resulting in distinct textural properties. Contact times spanned from 1 to 120 hours. For x = 0.16 samples, it took around 50 and 11 hours to reach equilibrium for the hydrothermally treated samples at 343 K and 373 K, respectively. Adsorbed quantities were similar (99 and 101 mg g-1, respectively), indicating consistent functional group content. This suggests that the key factor influencing uranium adsorption kinetics is pore size of the silica. The sample treated at 373 K, with a larger pore size (22.7 nm) compared to 343 K (11.5 nm), experienced less steric hindrance, allowing uranium species to diffuse more easily through the mesopores. The data confirmed the excellent fit of pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 > 0.999) and closely matched the experimental value, suggesting that chemisorption governs the rate-controlling step. To gain further insights into uranium adsorption behavior, we conducted an adsorption isotherm analysis at various initial concentrations under a constant pH of 4. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied, with the Langmuir model providing a superior fit. The relatively high R2 value indicated its effectiveness in describing the adsorption process, suggesting homogenous sorbate adsorption on an energetically uniform adsorbent surface via a monolayer adsorption and constant adsorption site density, without any interaction between adsorbates on adjacent sites. Remarkably, differences in surface area did not significantly impact uranium removal efficiency. This observation strongly suggests that the adsorption capacity is primarily governed by the loading amount of HDEHP and the inner-sphere complexation with the phosphoryl group (O=P). Our silica composite exhibited an impressive adsorption capacity of 133 mg g-1, surpassing the results reported in the majority of other silica literature.

Tritium is radioactive isotope, emitting beta ray, released as tritiated water from nuclear power plants. Due to the danger of radioactive isotope, the appropriate separation of tritium is essentially carried out for environment and safety. Further, it is also promising material for energy production and research. The tritiated water can be treated by diverse techniques such as water distillation, cryogenic distillation, Girdler-sulfide process, and catalytic exchange. After treatment, it is more desirable to convert as gas phase for storage, comparing to liquid phase. However, achieving complete separation of hydrogen gases with very similar physical and chemical properties is significantly challenging. Thus, it is necessary to develop materials with effective separation properties in gas separation. In this presentation, we present hydrogen isotope separation in the gas phase using modified mesoporous silica. Mesoporous silica is a form of silica that is characterized by its mesoporous structure possessing pores that range from 2 to 50 nm in diameter. This material can be functionalized to selectively capture and separate molecules having specific size and affinity. Here, the silver and copper incorporated mesoporous silica was synthesized to tailor a chemical affinity quantum sieving effect, thereby providing separation efficiency in D2/H2. The adsorption quantities of H2 and D2 were determined by sorption study, and the textural properties of each mesoporous silica were analyzed using N2 physisorption. The selectivity (D2/H2) in diverse feed composition (1:1, 1:9, and 1:99 of D2/H2) was estimated by applying ideal adsorbed solution theory to predict the loading of the gas mixture on bare, Ag- and Cu-mesoporous silica based on their sorption study. Further, the performance of each mesoporous silica was evaluated in the breakthrough adsorption under 1:1 mixture of D2 and H2 at 77 K.

Poor mechanical properties and bacterial infection are the main problems faced by dental restorative resins in clinical use. In this study, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) grafted with imidazole groups and mesoporous silica (MSN) are co-filled in a dental resin to impart excellent antimicrobial activity and mechanical properties to the dental resin. The higher specific surface area of GQDs and MSN results in an increased contact area with the resin matrix, which enhances the strength of the dental composite resin. The introduction of GQDs significantly improves the antimicrobial activity of the resin. The inhibition efficiency of the composite resin against Streptococcus mutans reached 99.9% with the addition of GQDs at only 0.2 wt.%. When MSN and GQDs are co-filled, MSN interferes with the release of GQDs, thus reducing the antimicrobial activity of the dental resin but improving the cyto-compatibility. By reasonably adjusting the amount of GQDs and MSN, the dental composite resin can exhibit excellent antimicrobial properties, mechanical properties and cyto-compatibility at the same time.

에멀션 기반의 계면활성제를 이용한 주형합성법을 이용하여 산촉매로서 염산과 실리카의 전구체인 테 트라에톡시실란을 사용함으로써 메조다공성 실리카 마이크로스피어를 합성하였다. 테트라에톡시실란의 농도 증가에 의해 구형의 입자 형태가 파괴되었고, 기공구조도 크게 변하였다. 산촉매 농도 증가에 의한 구형의 입자형태 파괴 현상은 적었지만 상대적으로 작은 크기의 구형의 마이크로입자가 더 많이 생성되 었다. 하지만, 산성조건에서 입자들 간의 강한 응집현상이 나타남에 따라 낱개의 분리되어 있는 단일입자 를 얻기 위해서는 초음파 등의 후처리 과정이 필요하였다.

The study was done to change the morphology and pore size of SBA-15 silica, and the characteristics of SBA-15 silica were investigated with TG-DSC, XRD, SEM, TEM and N2 adsorption-desorption under changing aging conditions. SBA-15 silica having a 2D-hexagonal structure was synthesized and confirmed by SEM and TEM. The structure of mesoporus silica SBA-15 showed a pore having regularly formed hexagonal structure and a passage having a cylindrical shape. This result is in good agreement with the pore forming in XRD and cylindrical shape of the structure in N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm. SBA-15 silica showed a large BET surface area of 603-698 m2/g, a pore volume of 0.673-0.926 cm3/g, a large pore diameter of 5.62-7.42 nm, and a thick pore wall of 3.31-4.37 nm. This result shows that as the aging temperature increases, the BET surface area, pore volume, and pore diameter increase but the pore wall thickness decreases. The BET surface areas in SM-2 and SM-3 are as large as 698 m2/g. However, SM-2 has a large surface area and forms a thick pore wall, when the aging temperature is 100˚C and is synthesized into stable mesoporous SBA-15 silica.

The purpose of this study is to synthesize transition metal doped mesoporous silica catalyst and to characterize its surface in an attempt to decomposition of N2O. Transition metal used to surface modification were Ru, Pd, Cu and Fe concentration was adjusted to 0.05 M. The prepared mesoporous silica catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area, BJH pore size, Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray fluorescence. The results of XRD for mesoporous silica catalysts showed typical the hexagonal pore system. BET results showed the mesoporous silica catalysts to have a surface area of 537 ∼973 m2/g and pore size of 2∼4 nm. The well-dispersed particle of mesoporous silica catalysts were observed by SEM, the presence and quantity of transition metal loading to mesoporous surface were detected by XRF. The N2O decomposition efficiency on mesoporous silica catalysts were as follow: Ru>Pd>Cu>Fe. The results suggest that transition metal doped mesoporous silica is effective catalyst for decomposition of N2O.