Hybrid Materials Based on Silica Matrices Impregnated with Pt-Porphyrin or PtNPs Destined for CO(2) Gas Detection or for Wastewaters Color Removal

Multifunctional hybrid materials with applications in gas sensing or dye removal from wastewaters were obtained by incorporation into silica matrices of either Pt(II)-5,10,15,20-tetra-(4-allyloxy-phenyl)-porphyrin (PtTAOPP) or platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) alone or accompanied by 5,10,15,20-tetra-(4-allyloxy-phenyl)-porphyrin (TAOPP). The tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)-based silica matrices were obtained by using the sol-gel method performed in two step acid-base catalysis. Optical, structural and morphological properties of the hybrid materials were determined and compared by UV-vis, fluorescence and FT-IR spectroscopy techniques, by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. PtTAOPP-silica hybrid was the most efficient material both for CO(2) adsorption (0.025 mol/g) and for methylene blue adsorption (7.26 mg/g) from wastewaters. These results were expected due to both the ink-bottle mesopores having large necks that exist in this hybrid material and to the presence of the porphyrin moiety that facilitates chemical interactions with either CO(2) gas or the dye molecule. Kinetic studies concerning the mechanism of dye adsorption demonstrated a second order kinetic model, thus it might be attributed to both physical and chemical processes.