Metal-silica spherical particles development by spray pyrolysis: Effect of metal species on surface area and toluene adsorption

Abstract Zn-SiO2 microspheres are an emerging material in the field of catalysis, separation, and sensor. In the development of Zn-SiO2 microspheres by spray pyrolysis for a volatile organic component removal, the micro-spherical particles were observed to adsorb 3.4 mol kg-1 of toluene at zinc concentration of 10 wt% in comparison with microspheres containing the same concentration of cobalt, nickel and iron species. Toluene gas with low inlet concentration of 0.1% was used, indicating the high sensitivity of the Zn-SiO2 microspheres. Zinc outperformed the other metal species due to the former’s uniform spherical shape character and high affinity for toluene. The effect of surface area and pore characteristics of the microspheres on the toluene adsorption was also found to be profound.