Mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres, facile synthesis and the selective adsorption properties

Mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres with average size of 300 nm and specific surface area of 58 m2 g−1 were synthesized via a simple process at room temperature. The resulting product was found to have high affinity to anionic methylene orange (MO) and can be employed to selectively adsorb MO from mixture consisted of different dyes. The adsorption capacity of the mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres for MO is estimated to be 48.38 mg g−1, the adsorption kinetics obeys pseudo-second-order kinetics following the Freundlich isotherm. The effective desorption of MO by controlling proper ionic strength approves the potential applications of the mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres as adsorbent for treatments of dye containing effluents.

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► Mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres were synthesized by a facile solution method.
► The mesoporous Cu2O submicro-spheres selectively adsorbs anionic dye from mixture.
► Efficient desorption of anionic dye can be performed under proper ionic strength.