Preparation and Characterization of High Surface Area Nanosilica from Iraqi Sand via Sol-Gel Technique

The present study revealed a low-cost process for utilizing desert sand preparing nanosilica by sol-gel technique. This work required sodium hydroxide, concentrated hydrochloric acid, distillate water as raw materials, and Iraqi sand. Nanosilica sample was characterized X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM), atomic force microscope(AFM), surface area (BET) method, fourier transform infrared (FTIR). XRD result of produced is referred to amorphous silica, it has broad peak at 2Θ= 22° – 22.5 º. SEM showed spherical, agglomerated silica particles with diameter range 26.57–28.93 nm. In addition, the average particle size 76.35nm, dimension 40-110 nm, 510.96 m²/g. inclusion hydrogen-bonded silanol groups (Si–O–H) 3437.15 cm-¹ siloxane (Si–O–Si) 1087.85 cm-¹in FTIR spectra.