title: Surface silylation of natural mesoporous/macroporous diatomite for adsorption of benzene.
abstract: Naturally occurring porous diatomite (Dt) was functionalized with phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES), and the PTES-modified diatomite (PTES-Dt) was characterized using diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. After silylation, a functional group (-C6H5, phenyl) was successfully introduced onto the surface of Dt. PTES-Dt exhibited hydrophobic properties with a water contact angle (WCA) as high as 120°±1°, whereas Dt was superhydrophilic with a WCA of 0°. The benzene adsorption data on both Dt and PTES-Dt fit well with the Langmuir isotherm equation. The Langmuir adsorption capacity of benzene on PTES-Dt is 28.1 mg/g, more than 4-fold greater than that on Dt. Moreover, the adsorption kinetics results show that equilibrium was achieved faster for PTES-Dt than for Dt, over the relative pressure range of 0.118-0.157. The excellent benzene adsorption performance of PTES-Dt is attributed to strong π-system interactions between the phenyl groups and the benzene molecules as well as to the macroporosity of the PTES-Dt. These results show that the silylated diatomite could be a new and inexpensive adsorbent suitable for use in benzene emission control.
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Wenbin
authors: W
authors: Yu
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Liangliang
authors: L
authors: Deng
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: yuanpeng@gig.ac.cn.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Yuan
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Liu
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Weiwei
authors: W
authors: Yuan
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Liu
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Hongping
authors: H
authors: He
authors: Geosciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI 53144, USA.
authors: Zhaohui
authors: Z
authors: Li
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors: Fanrong
authors: F
authors: Chen
keywords: Benzene adsorption; Diatomite; Hydrophobicity; Phenyltriethoxysilane; Silylation