Preparation of Sulfhydryl Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Particles and Application in Adsorption of Cd²+

An improved soft template method to prepare sulfhydryl functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles is proposed. It is shown that the prepared nanoparticles maintain a relatively uniform spherical structure with a particle size range of 20 - 30 nm and a large specific surface area of about 926 m2/g. The sample is used to absorb heavy metal Cadmium ions (Cd2+) in water. The experimental results show that the sulfhydryl functionalized mesoporous silica is sensitive to Cadmium ions and has good selectivity. The detection limit can be estimated to be as low as 1.35 μg/L.