Abstract
Surface functionalization of silica leads to the synthesis of materials with possible applications in the selective ion extraction. However, organic solvents classically used to functionalize the silica surface have economic and environmental issues. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) seems a greener alternative to the use of these organic solvents. The aim of this PhD work is to characterize the SC CO2 functionalization of silica surfaces by alkoxysilanes, to determine the evolution of the grafting in nanometric media and to precise the behavior of the materials in aqueous solution. Different model systems based on silica have been used as grafting supports: plane silica surfaces, parallel and plane surfaces spaced of few nanometers (silica nanochannels) and organised mesoporous silica (SBA-15). In order to determine the impact of the alkoxysilane head groups on the supercritical CO2 functionalization, different alkoxysilanes have been used or prepared: 3-(mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTMS), 3-[amino(ethylamino)propyl]trimethoxysilane (AEAPTMS) and 3-(iodopropyl)triethoxysilane (IPTES). The results obtained in plane silica surfaces allowed the determination of different morphologies and structures of the grafted layers, depending on the alkoxysilane used. The same morphologies have been found on the grafting of silica nanochannels, with the addition of physisorbed molecules. The transfert of the SC CO2 grafting process SBA-15 silica showed that the process was not strictly transposable. AEAPTMS could not be grafted in mesoporous silicas SBA-15 having a pore size lower than 7,5 nm. MPTMS and IPTES molecules are both grafted on the microporosity and a fraction of mesopores is obtured. Moreover, MPTMS monolayers are grafted at the mesoporous surface. The driving parameters of the polycondensation change depending on the grafted molecule.Besides, the post-functionalization of the iodo groups in phosphonate by the Arbuzov-Michaelis reaction have been effectively performed in plane and in mesoporous silicas. In SBA-15 silica, the post-functionalization leads to materials with higher porosity and with phosphonate groups in the pore wall. The measure of the evolution in aqueous solution show that the material is stable at different pH values and that the solution diffuses in the pore walls. The calculated diffusion coefficients highlight that the functionalization, which obstructed the microporosity, slowed down the diffusion of the aqueous solutions in the silica walls. In the case of basics solutions, the diffusion is probably enhanced by the affinity of the cations with the phosphonate groups. Sorption studies and the effects of γ-irradiations in the grafted materials could be interesting outlooks of this work.