SOP TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED CHEMISTRY Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Thiol-functionalized Hierarchical Nanocomposite for Removal of Lead from Aqueous Solutions

As a heavy metal, lead is dangerous to health or to the environment and is not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in living organisms, therefore it is necessary to remove it from the polluted waters. In this research, thiol-functionalized Beta/MCM-41 nanocomposite (SH-Beta/MCM-41) was prepared by 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) in the presence of aerosil-200 as silica source by two-step hydrothermal crystallization procedure. XRD, TG-DTG, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM and FT-IR techniques were used to characterize the nanoparticles before and after functionalization. The functionalized hierarchical zeolite exhibited desirable adsorption capacity for lead, superior to either microporous zeolite or mesoporous silica, providing a valuable candidate for removing the heavy metal cation. Keywords