Green production of silica nanoparticles from maize stalk
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract
Amorphous silica has been produced from some agricultural wastes but with drawbacks on
agglomeration challenges. In the present study, potential of maize stalk (MS) wastes as a source of
nano silica was studied through modified sol-gel techniques, which involved acid pretreatment,
calcination, leaching, sol-gel modification, and post-filtration treatments. Nano silica particles
obtained were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, PSA, Raman, and FT-IR for morphology, elemental
composition, particle size, and surface chemistry. Results obtained revealed that pre-calcination
acid treatment of the MS did not improve the silica yield but reduced the Van der Waal’s
interaction of the silica particles resulting in silica particles with a smaller degree of agglomeration.
Sodium silicate modified with ethylene glycol sol-gel treatment prior to titration reduced silica
agglomeration. Silica nanoparticles obtained according to XRD, TEM, and PSA are below 30 nm.
Description
Keywords
morphology, agglomeration, nanoparticle, Maize stalk, silica