Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Silica-Nanoparticles and their Applications for the Removal of Pesticides from Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Silica nanoparticles functionalized with three different active functional groups (C-8, cyano-propyl, and methacrylate (MA)) were synthesized, characterized and applied for the removal of ten carbamate pesticides from aqueous solution. Two methods were used for the synthesis of functionalized silica (grafting and sol-gel method). SEM, FTIR, and HCN were used for the characterization of the particles, while LC-MS/MS was used for the quantitative analysis of carbamate pesticides in the non-treated and treated aqueous solutions. The characterization results indicated the formation of uniformed, spherical and mono-dispersed particles when the cyano and MA particles were prepared by the Sol-gel. Also, results indicated that all of the synthesized particles were enhances for the removal of carbamate pesticides, and MA prepared by the Sol-gel methods had the highest ? removal for most of the carbamate pesticides tested.