Bogusław Buszewski1,2, Hussam Al-Saoud2,3, Michał Szumski2, Marek Potrzebowski4, Myroslav Sprynskyy2
1Department of Environmental Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicu University in Toruń, Gagarina7 str. Pl-87 100 Toruń (Poland)
2Interdyscyplinary Center of Modern Techniology, Nicolaus Copernicu University in Toruń, Gagarina7 str. Pl-87 100 Toruń (Poland)
3Departament of Materiale Engineering and Production, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Białystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45c, Pl-15 351 Białystok (Poland)
4Center of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza str. 112, Pl-90 001 Łódź (Poland)
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Silica has always been the object of interest of specialists and used for many purposes. Particularly for over 100 years, it has been used in chromatography and other separation techniques as an adsorbent or a carrier for stationary phases. Due to the high demands placed on chromatographic stationary phases, synthetic silica is used to provide high column efficiencies and avoid many adverse interactions. Recently, bio-silica obtained as a result of biogenic processes carried out by the selected strains of algae turned out to be an alternative to the synthetic silica [1]. This material, in contrast to the synthetic one, is characterized by a micro- or nano-hierarchical structure. Biosilica is an inorganic polymer formed by organisms such as diatoms or siliceous sponges of orthosilicate units in which two silanol groups are joined together to one bond or siloxane. Its low manufacturing cost as well as high quality in terms of chemical composition, mechanical stability and resistance are guaranteed by a good biosynthesis reproducibility. In this paper, the conditions of bio-silica biosynthesis, used as an adsorbent and carrier of stationary phases for liquid chromatography and related techniques, will be presented. The characteristics of bare and modified materials using porosimetric techniques, microscopic imaging, surface architecture characteristics via spectral and spectroscopic methods as well as chromatographic assessment will be discussed. Potential application possibilities (first proposals in the literature) in chromatographic separation and sample preparation will also be presented.
Acknowledgements:
This work was financially supported by the Foundation for Polish Science co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Found, project Advanced bio-composites for tomorrow’s economy BIOG-NET, FNP POIR.04.04.00-00-1792/18-00. The project is carried out within the TEAM-NET program.
[1] M. Sprynskyy, P. Pomastowski, M. Horonowska, A. Król, K. Rafińska, B. Buszewski, Naturalny organic functionalized 3D biosilica from diatommicroalge., Mater. Des., 132 (2017) 22-29.
