Adsorption of reactive dyes on titania-silica mesoporous materials

This paper presents a study on the adsorption of two basic dyes, methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB), from aqueous solution onto mesoporous silica-titania materials. The effect of dye structure, adsorbent particle size, TiO(2) presence, and temperature on adsorption was investigated. Adsorption data obtained at different solution temperatures (25, 35, and 45 degrees C) revealed an irreversible adsorption that decreased with the increment of T. The presence of TiO(2) augmented the adsorption capacity (q(e)). This would be due to possible degradation of the dye molecule in contact with the TiO(2) particles in the adsorbent interior. The adsorption enthalpy was relatively high, indicating that interaction between the sorbent and the adsorbate molecules was not only physical but chemical. Both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm equations were applied to the experimental data. The obtained parameters and correlation coefficients showed that the adsorption of the two reactive dyes (MB and RhB) on the adsorbent systems at the three work temperatures was best predicted by the Langmuir isotherm, but not in all cases. The kinetic adsorption data were processed by the application of two simplified kinetic models, first and second order, to investigate the adsorption mechanism. It was found that the adsorption kinetics of methylene blue and rhodamine B onto the mesoporous silica-titania materials surface under different operating conditions was best described by the first-order model.