Preparation and characterization of low cost silica powder from sweet corn cobs (Zea mays saccharata L.)

Preparation and characterization of silica powder from sweet corn cob were carried out in this work. corn cobs were burned in air at 600 and 800 °c for 2 hours to obtain corn cob ash (cca). silica powder was produced by dissolving cca with sodium hydroxide (naoh) solution to form sodium silicate (na2sio3) solution. the ph of the solution was adjusted to7.0 by adding hydrochloric acid (hcl) to form silica gel followed by drying to form silica powder. as-prepared silica powder was characterized using xrf,xrd,ft-ir,and sem techniques. as-prepared silica powder with 90.6% silica content was obtained from cca after burning at 600 °c. in addition,xrd patterns revealed amorphous structure and ft-ir spectra indicated the presence of siloxane and silanol groups in as-prepared silica powder from cca burned at 600 °c.