Characterization of Silica Nanoporous Structures of Some Diatom Frustules and their Applications | ||||
Delta Journal of Science | ||||
Article 8, Volume 38, Issue 2, December 2017, Page 210-218 PDF (8.29 MB) | ||||
Document Type: Research and Reference | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/djs.2017.139459 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
Abdelfattah Ali Zalat1; Atef M. Abo - Shady2; Emad A. Al-Ashkar3; Mohamed E. Ghobara2 | ||||
1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt | ||||
2Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt | ||||
3Spectroscopy Department, physics Division, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Diatoms are unicellular algae that belonging to the class Bacillariophyceae. They inhabit nearly all aquatic environments from marine to freshwater and moist habitats. These organisms create highly ornamented external siliceous shells of multi-layer structure with multi-scale porosity. The main objective of this study is to explore the utilization of diatom-derived porous structures in nanotechnology. The present study is based on five dominant species identified and described from 59 samples collected from different habitats in Egypt. The studied taxa included Actinocyclus cf. octonarius Ehrenberg, Aulacoseira granulata (Ehrenberg) Simonsen, Cyclotella meneghiniana Kützing and Pleurosira laevis (Ehrenberg) Compére. Nanoporous structures of the considered taxa have been well investigated through SEM analysis. The sizes of nanoporous silica were found in the range of 5 to 500 nm. The obtained results showed the potential of diatoms as a source of natural silica micro-particles with micro- to nano-porous structures with prospective applications as supports for catalysis, selective adsorption, sensors, membranes, and other novel nanotechnological applications. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
diatom frustules; nanoporous silica; nanotechnology applications | ||||
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