Molecularly Imprinted Mesoporous Silicas for the Separation of Metal Ions by Sol-Gel Method

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The mesoporous silicas doubly imprinted with both surfactant micelles and metal ions acting as templates were prepared to develop highly selective adsorbents by cocondensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and copper-3- (2-aminoethylamino) propyltrimethoxysilane (Cu (appts) ₂²⁺) in the presence of structure-directing cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant micelles. Removal of the metal ion and the surfactant results in the formation of different-sized imprints within adsorbents: the pores that give the gel enhanced selectivity for the target metal ion and the cylindrical pores that give the gel an overall porosity which includes large surface areas and excellent metal ion transport kinetics. The measurement of adsorption equilibri-um and kinetics of copper ion on these adsorbents provided the high adsorption capacity and selectivity, coupled with fast kinetics, for copper ions used as templates.