The thiol-functionalized silica gels were prepared from a mixture of Si(OEt)
4 (TEOS) and C
3H
6SHMeSi(OMe)
2 (MPDMS) in n-octane solvent by sol-gel process. The pore structure and the adsorption characteristics for metal ions such as Ag
+, Hg
2+, Pb
2+ and Zn
2+ were investigated as the fundamental properties. The thiol-functionalized silica gels were formed at a mole fraction of MPDMS (
Xm=MPDMS/(TEOS+MPDMS)) smaller than 0.3. The amount of thiol groups in the silica gels increased with
Xm. For
Xm=0-0.1, the pore diameter of silica gels also increased with
Xm. These results suggested that the pore structure of silica gels is altered by the introduction of C
3H
6SH groups in the gels. The thiol-functionalized silica gels adsorbed Ag
+ and Hg
2+ more than Pb
2+ and Zn
2+.
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