Synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles linked by molecularly imprinted polymers and examination of their ability to remove uremic toxins

The uremic toxins removal from human body is one the most studied topics. Accumulation of these toxins cause serious problems like kidney failure. Adsorbents like activated carbon, zeolites and other materials are widely used to remove them. In this work we have investigated new adsorbent for uremic toxins removal with porous materials. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles prepared from sodium silicate which was extracted from rice husk was linked to molecularly imprinted polymer templated separately for urea, creatinine and uric acid and also amin functionalized mesoporous silica were prepared and used to remove urea, creatinine and uric acid. The large surface area (879.12 (m 2 /g)) and relatively pore volume (0.8475 (cm 3 /g)) indicate that a large surface is available for removal. Linking two porous materials led to an increase in the surface area compared to when both materials were examined separately. The increase in surface area showed significant results for urea absorption. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles linked with molecularly imprinted polymer presented the highest absorption capacity (q m = 1821.2 mg/g) for urea all synthesized absorbents, and the absorption capacity of the other absorbents decreased as follows amin functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (q m = 1611.3 mg/g) > mesoporous silica nano particles (q m = 1314.6 mg/g). The urea-removing absorbents were able to remove nearly all of the urea. Also, significant quantities of creatinine and uric acid were eliminated with amin functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles despite their large molecular sizes.