Aerosol-Assisted Synthesis of Thiol-Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Spheres with Fe(3)O(4) Nanoparticles

Thiol-functionalized mesoporous silica spheres having Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles are fabricated in one-pot by aerosol-assisted synthesis. A TEM image shows that Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles are successfully embedded within the mesoporous silica spheres. SEM images and SAXS profiles reveals that the encapsulating Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles do not affect the ordering of a mesoporous structure. The spherical morphologies are also well retained. The presence of cage-type mesopores with uniform size is confirmed by N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms and TEM observations. The spray-dried thiol-functionalized particles with Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles effectively adsorb mercury (II) ions due to their strong interaction to thiol groups embedded in the framework. The particles with the amount of Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (3.5 wt%) show a saturated magnetization (over 1.0 emu/g). This magnetic property is useful for practical collection with magnet