Thermodynamics,kinetics, and isotherms studies for gold(III) adsorption using silica functionalized by diethylenetriaminemethylenephosphonic acid

A novel hybrid material silica gel chemically modified by diethylenetriaminemethylenephosphonic acid GH-D-P has been developed and characterized. The results of the adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics of the as-synthesized GH-D-P for Au(III) showed that this high efficient inorganic–organic hybrid adsorbent had good adsorption capacity for Au(III), and the best interpretation for the experimental data was given by the Langmuir isotherm equation, the maximum adsorption capacity for Au(III) is 357.14 mg/g at 35 °C. Moreover, the study indicated the adsorption kinetics of GH-D-P could be modeled by the pseudo-second-order rate equation wonderfully, and the adsorption thermodynamic parameters ΔG, ΔH and ΔS were −20.43 kJ mol⁻¹, 9.17 kJ mol⁻¹, and 96.24 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹, respectively. Therefore, the high adsorption capacity make this hybrid material have significant potential for Au(III) uptake from aqueous solutions using adsorption method.