Non-covalent functionalization of high-surface area nanomaterials: A new class of sorbent materials

Kara M. Nell, Sean A. Fontenot, Timothy G. Carter, Marvin G. Warner, Cynthia L. Warner, R. Shane Addleman, Darren W. Johnson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

A non-covalent approach to functionalizing nanostructured materials with high-specificity ligands is described. In this work a variety of thiol ligands were non-covalently attached to self-assembled phenyl monolayers on nanostructured materials by taking advantage of favorable aromatic interactions. The resulting sorbent materials, both mesoporous silica and magnetic nanoparticles, were found to be very effective at scavenging soft heavy metal cations, Cd(ii), Hg(ii), Pb(ii) and Ag(i), from aqueous matrices, performing better than commercial sorbents and comparably to the best covalently functionalized thiol sorbents available. This approach can be extended to a variety of surface chemistries and has application to chemical functionalization of a broad range of support structures used for chemical separations and processing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)138-145
Number of pages8
JournalEnvironmental Science: Nano
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.

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