Oil absorption in mesoporous silica particles

Abstract

Mesoporous silica particles were prepared from highly basic sodium silicate solutions, having different silica modulus and SiO2 concentrations, by adding sulphuric acid at different temperatures. Pore structure of prepared silica particles (aggregates) is strongly influenced by processing conditions and easy controllable in broad range of the specific surface area, pore size, pore volume and size distribution. It is shown that there is a clear correlation between volume of absorbed oil and processing parameters used in preparation of silica aggregates. Thus, oil absorption is higher in the samples prepared from sodium silicate solution with higher SiO2 concentration and at higher synthesis temperature.