SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOSTRUCTURED METAL OXIDE ADSORBENTS

Abstract

The work embodied in this thesis entitled "Synthesis and Characterization of Nanostructured Metal Oxide Adsorbents " consists of five chapters. Introduction, experimental, results and discussion, adsorption studies of thiophene and conclusions are the chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Silver metal ion impregnated and without silver metal ion impregnated silica, alumina and mixed silica-alumina adsorbents were synthesized. In situ impregnation of metal ion was followed. The loading level of silver metal in all the nanostructured metal oxide adsorbents and molar ratio of different metal oxides in mixed metal oxide adsorbents were altered. All the nano metal oxide based adsorbents were synthesized by sol-gel method and were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA), UV-Vis spectroscopy and surface area analysis (BET). The adsorbents were tested for their performance using thiophene in pentane as a model solution.