Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Materials Functionalized with Phosphinic Acid Ligand and Their Capability to Remove Cd(II)

This article presents a study of cadmium removal from nitrate medium using adsorption in calcined mesoporous silica (MCM-C), mesoporous silica doped (MCM_DIOPA), and calcined and impregnated mesoporous silica (MCM@DIOPA), with diisooctylphosphinic acid (DIOPA). The sorbents were synthesized via a sol-gel method. Several characterization techniques, such as XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, N₂ sorption and elemental analysis, have been used to determine the main structural, textural, and chemical properties of prepared sorbents. Batch adsorption and kinetics tests were carried out, where the influence of pH and contact time of the sorbents and their role in cation removal were studied. Experimental results show poor sorption efficiencies with MCM-C and MCM_DIOPA at pH 5.85. At the same pH, better cadmium extraction was attained by MCM@DIOPA and was achieved within 30 min. The pseudo-second-order model is the most appropriate model to describe the elimination mechanism of Cd(II) ions. The Langmuir equation was used to model the sorption isotherm and the maximum sorption capacity of Cd(II) is 22.16 mg/g (200 mmol/kg). The complex type of the probable extracted species isCdL2-HL.