Magnetically separable mesoporous silica nanocomposite and its application in Fenton catalysis

A novel magnetically separable core/shell type nanocomposite was synthesized in a facile way and characterized by XRD, UV–Vis, FT-IR, TEM, nitrogen physisorption and magnetite susceptibility measurements. In the synthesis procedure, the mesoporous silica shell was coating on the surface of magnetic core directly via a nano-assembling method. After calcination at high temperature (550 °C) for template removal, the spinel phase of maghemite core was retained without any transformation. The resulting material possessed a regularly hexagonal mesoporous structure with a high specific surface area (908.70 m2/g), which were favorable to further functional modification. Once incorporated with iron species by in situ synthesis, the nanocomposite could serve as a Fenton catalyst and was effective in phenol degradation at the given conditions (40 °C, pH = 4). At the end of the reaction, it was easily collected by an external magnetic field and remained efficient in reuse.

The synthesized material shows well Fenton catalytic performance after functionalized by iron species (left image), and can be easily collected from aqueous solution by external magnetic field (right image).Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights
► A novel core–shell magnetic nanocomposite synthesized in a facile way.
► The nanocomposite characterized by mesoporous silica shell coated on the maghemite core.
► The magnetically separable nanocomposite can be served as an efficient Fenton catalyst.