ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Waste-free synthesis of silica nanospheres and silica nanocoatings from recycled ethanol–ammonium solution

Krzysztof Cendrowski, Pawel Sikora, Elzbieta Horszczaruk, and Ewa Mijowska

Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical and Environment Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

E-mail: kcendrowski@zut.edu.pl

Abstract: In this study, ethanol–ammonium recovery using a distillation system was evaluated. The experimental design was used to evaluate the possibility of solvent re-use and the influence of distillation on the recovery yield, ethanol–ammonium ratio (catalyst concentration) and size of the obtained nanostructures. The synthesised silica nanospheres from distilled ethanol–ammonium were compared in terms of size and shape (ammonium concentration) to the nanostructures obtained from filtrated and centrifuged solvents. The results showed that the process for ethanol–ammonium recovery proposed in this work, provides a large potential for reducing the amount of waste from the synthesis.

Keywords: Sol–gel; Stöber method; Nanosilica; Recycling; Waste-free synthesis

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-016-0099-y

Chemical Papers 71 (4) 841–848 (2017)