Mesoporous silica provides a robust, high-surface area scaffold for grafting ion-selective organic ligands. In contrast to coated resins, functionalized mesoporous silica materials contain a covalent bond between the ligand and silica surface, which may improve their stability in acidic media. Therefore, these materials have the potential to constitute a new class of sequestration agents that could have applications in environmental remediation. Before they can be effectively utilized as solid extractants, the interaction of the metal ion and the organically-modified silica surface must be understood on a molecular level to optimize the material stability, extraction capacity, and selectivity. We present the synthesis and characterization of mesoporous silica modified with phosphonate functional groups at the surface. The focus of the present work is to evaluate these materials based on their stability in aqueous media and their U(VI) sorption capacity, and to spectroscopically probe the interaction of U(VI) ions at the aqueous-solid interface.

Evaluating phosphonate-modified mesoporous silica for the sequestration of U(VI)

251st National Meeting (2016)

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