Investigation of the local chemical interactions between Hg and self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports

The synthesis of mesoporous silica has greatly expanded the possibilities for the design of open-pore structures. Because of their large surface area and well-defined pore size and pore shape, these materials have great potential in environmental and industrial processes, such as selective extraction of heavy metals from solutions. However, these applications require the materials to have specific attributes such as binding sites and charge density. Recently produced organic monolayers within ordered mesoporous silica have specific adsorption behavior for Hg and other heavy metals. This paper presents results of a study using Hg Lit ] edge X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) to understand the adsorption of Hg to this material surface.