Fabrication and investigation of gold (III) ion-imprinted functionalized silica particles

Au (III) ion-imprinted mesoporous silica particles (Au-Si-Py) was manufactured by the condensation reaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (AT)and 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde (Py). The obtained AT-Py Schiff base ligand was then coordinate with the template gold ions and the polymerizable gold-complex was allowed to gel in presence of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and then the coordinated gold ions were leached out of the obtained silica matrix using acidified thiourea solution. During the synthetic steps, the obtained materials were investigated utilizing advanced instrumental and spectral methods. Moreover, the morphological structure of both Au (III) ions imprinted Au-Si-Py and non-imprinted NI-Si-Py silica particles were visualized using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Various adsorption experiments had been carried out using both Au-Si-Py and NI-Si-Py to examine their potential for selective extraction of gold ions under different conditions.