Synthesis of mesoporous silica (SBA-16) nanoparticles using silica extracted from stem cane ash and its application in electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

In this work, a new catalyst based on modified mesoporous silica SBA-16 is proposed and used for electrochemical oxidation of methanol. Mesoporous silica SBA-16 nanoparticles are synthesized hydrothermally under the acidic medium using SiO₂/F127/BuOH/HCl/H₂O gel. Pure SiO₂ powder is prepared from inexpensive and environmentally friendly silica source of stem cane ash (SCA). The synthesized SBA-16 is characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brumauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and FT-IR techniques. The synthesized SBA-16 is modified with Ni(II) by dispersion in a 0.1 M nickel chloride solution. A modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) is prepared by mixing of NiSBA-16 to carbon paste (NiSBA-16CPE). The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol was studied on modified electrode by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. From cyclic voltammetry, it is observed that the oxidation current is extremely increased by using NiSBA-16CPE compared to the nonmodified CPE. The incorporation of Ni²⁺ into SBA-16 channels provides the active sites for catalysis of methanol oxidation. Also, the rate constant for the catalytic reaction (k) of methanol is obtained.