A Facile Template-Free Room Temperature Synthesis of Mesoporous Wormlike Nickel Phyllosilicate

ABSTRACT

Mesoporous wormlike nickel phyllosilicate was obtained from rice husk (agricultural biomass) by a simple, facile and template-free method which was carried out via sol-gel technique at room temperature. The synthesized nickel phyllosilicate had been characterized by various physico-chemical methods. Transmission electron micrographs revealed the formation of wormlike network of nickel phyllosilicate with uniform channel width. From the nitrogen sorption analysis, the nickel phyllosilicate shows a high specific BET surface area of 307 m² g^-1 with a narrow pore size distribution.The amorphous nature of silica and the presence of layered phyllosilicate-like structure were confirmed by x-ray diffraction pattern. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum show the presence of nickel in the silica matrix which was further confirmed by atomic adsorption analysis. The homogeneous dispersion of nickel in the silica matrix was confirmed by energy dispersion X-ray-mapping.

Keywords:

Phyllosilicate, mesoporous material, wormlike network, rice husk silica, nickel oxide, template-free.