Preparing of silica aerogel and adsorption performance on nitrobenzene

SiO ₂ aerogel is prepared under normal conditions by taking tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the silica source, N-hexane as the displacer, trimethylchlorosilane hexane as the modifier and hydrolysis environment provided by hydrochloric acid and ammonia water. The effect of pH value, time, temperature, initial concentration on the adsorption of nitrobenzene by aerogel has been studied. The results show that the best range of the pH value for adsorption is 10.72. When adsorption time is 100 min, adsorption equilibrium can be reached. The best temperature for adsorption is 40 °C. The adsorption capacity becomes larger with the concentration increasing of the nitrobenzene solution. When the concentration reaches 500 mg/L, the adsorption reaches 32.402 mg/g. The adsorption equation matches Langmuir model. Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM), infrared absorption spectrum and specific surface area measurements have shown that the adsorption property of SiO ₂ aerogel for the nitrobenzene is related to cellular structure of the aerogel and large specific surface area.