Ordered Mesoporous Carbonaceous Materials with Tunable Surface Property for Enrichment of Hexachlorobenzene.

A gradient pyrolysis approach has been adopted for synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbonaceous materials with different surface and textural properties for removal of hexachlorobenzene. The resultant ordered mesoporous carbonaceous materials possess high surface areas (364-888 m2/g), large pore volumes (0.23-0.47 cm3/g), uniform pore sizes (2.6-3.8 nm), and tunable hydrophobic properties. They show high-efficiency removal performances for hexachlorobenzene with high adsorption capacity of 594.2-992.1 µg/g. An enhanced removal rate (>99%) can be obtained with the increasing pyrolysis temperature (900 °C) as a result of the strong hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction between the carbon framework and hexachlorobenzene molecules. Furthermore, the adsorption behaviors follow the Sips isotherm model and obey the pseudo-first-order kinetic model.

Synthesis of TiO2 and TiO2-Pt and their application in photocatalytic degradation of humic acid.

The deposit of noble metal on titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been considered as an effective strategy to improve the activity of TiO2. In this study, TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared using a sol-gel route followed by heat treatment at elevated temperatures (573 K, 773 K, and 973 K). TiO2-Pt catalyst (1 wt%) was prepared by depositing Pt on the surface of the prepared TiO2 nanoparticles. TiO2 and TiO2-Pt were used as heterogeneous catalysts to remove humic acid with UV-light (120 W) illumination. TiO2 prepared at low temperature with smaller particle size and larger specific surface area had stronger activity on humic acid degradation. Deposit of Pt would favor separation of photogenerated charges and enhance the photocatalyst activity, but its coating of the active site also inhibited degradation of humic acid. The addition of H202 enhanced degradation of humic acid for more active oxygen produced. Low pH (pH = 4) was helpful to adsorb humic acid on the surface of TiO2 and, correspondingly, enhance degradation of humic acid (44.4%).

One-pot synthesis of Aluminum-containing ordered mesoporous silica MCM-41 using coal fly ash for phosphate adsorption.

The present study offers an economic one-pot synthesis of Al-containing ordered mesoporous silica MCM-41 from the coal fly ash. The samples were characterized by small-angle XRD, N2 adsorption, TEM, mapping, (27)Al MAS NMR, EDX, and NH3-TPD. The effects of pH values to the final mesostructures have also been investigated. The results show that the material prepared at the pH value of 10 displays the largest pore volume of 0.98 cm(3)/g, the highest BET surface area of 1020 m(2)/g, and the lowest Si/Al molar ratio of 2. Using this material as adsorbent for phosphates, the adsorption capacity reaches 64.2mg/g at 298 K, which is much higher than that of large pore mesoporous silica SBA-15 (53.5mg/g), diatomite (62.7 mg/g), and MCM-41 (31.1 mg/g). In addition, the thermodynamics and kinetics for the phosphate adsorption were also investigated. Our present study shows an economic way to treat phosphates using the industrial solid waste of coal fly ash.