Abstract:
Value added materials made from agricultural residues are very attractive since they contribute in reducing environmental
waste and enhancing economic sustainability. Two deposition methods were investigated where silica xerogel from
sugarcane leaves (a waste from sugarcane industry) was used as a support for the synthesized gold nanoparticles. Biogenic
silica was refluxed with sodium hydroxide at 80 °C to form sodium silicate solution. The gold nanoparticles were either
synthesized in the sodium silicate solution or separately to form silica/Au nanoparticles through a sol-gel method. Ultraviolet
(UV)-visible spectroscopy, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and nitrogen adsorptiondesorption
were used to characterize the produced Si/Au nanoparticles. The two investigated methods resulted in distinctive
deposition of gold nanoparticles on a silica xerogel support and also significantly different textural properties. The produced
silica/gold nanoparticles had a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of up to 619 m2/g, pore diameter of 8.3 nm and
pore volume of 1.28 cm3.g−1.
