Highly efficient green synthesis of highly pure microporous nanosilica from silicomanganese slag

Highly pure nanosilica was synthesized through a facile hydrometallurgy-based method from silicomanganese slag as a low cost silica source. The synthesis route included short-term nitric acid dissolution at room temperature, gelation, washing, drying, and calcination steps. The experimental dissolution conditions resulted in a dissolution efficiency of 98%. The crystalline structure, chemical composition, chemical bonding, microstructure and elemental analyses, particle size distribution, and surface area of the extracted silica were then studied by appropriate characterization techniques. The characterization findings indicated that the amorphous silica particles had a microporous nature with an average particle size of ~24 nm, exhibiting a high purity of more than 99% and a high specific surface area of ~474 m² g^?1. The overall results indicated that the proposed synthesis route is a promising feasible alternative method to produce highly pure microporous nanosilica from a low cost secondary resource. The proposed method can treat 98% of the slag and uses less chemicals than conventional methods and is therefore a greener nanosilica production process. The current process also competes with the traditional process and other recently introduced processes in terms of process economy and the quality of the produced product.