A simple solid–liquid grinding/templating route for the synthesis of magnetic iron/graphitic mesoporous carbon composites

Magnetic iron/graphitic mesoporous carbon composites were prepared by a simple one-step solid–liquid grinding/templating route. X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating-sample magnetometry and thermogravimetric analysis were used to characterize the samples. It was observed that a high content of magnetic iron nanoparticles could be embedded in the walls of graphitic mesoporous carbon matrix, and the resulting materials have a hierarchical mesostructure with a high specific surface area, large pore volume, and high saturation magnetization, giving the materials wide potential applications as catalyst supports and adsorbents.