Fabrication of silica/calcium alginate nanocomposite based on rice husk ash for efficient adsorption of phenol from water.

The current work discusses the synthesis of three different solid adsorbents: silica nanoparticles derived from rice husk (RS), calcium alginate beads (AG), and silica/alginate nanocomposite (RSG). The fabricated solid adsorbents were characterized by using different physicochemical techniques such as TGA, XRD, nitrogen adsorption/desorption analysis, ATR-FTIR, pH, SEM, and TEM. The adsorption efficiencies of the prepared solid adsorbents were considered for the removal of phenol as a selected hazardous pollutant.