A tantalum(v) oxide impregnated silica gel surface: application as a promising adsorbent for simultaneous heavy metal preconcentration

Abstract

This article reports on an investigation into the ability of SiO₂–Ta₂O₅ as a new sorbent for simultaneous preconcentration of Cd(II), Co(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Fe(III), Mn(II), Ni(II) and Pb(II) ions from water by the column method and the parameters involved in this process. The preconcentration of metal ions was favorable at pH 9 with quantitative recoveries achieved with 50 mg of sorbent. The synthesized sorbent was characterized by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy-electron dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), while the simultaneous determination of metals was done by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The silica gel inorganic sorbent modified with tantalum(V) oxide has a strong significant effect on the preconcentration of metal ions from water since it was possible to achieve a 100-fold preconcentration factor alongside interfering cations. The novel SiO₂–Ta₂O₅ sorbent material showed respectable capacity values (µmol g⁻¹) of 195.71, 373.32, 500.00, 440.60, 429.72, 691.66, 374.85 and 86.87 for Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Pb, respectively. The proposed method was applied to river water samples spiked with target analytes.