Designed multifunctionalized magnetic mesoporous microsphere for sequential sorption of organic and inorganic pollutants

A novel magnetic microsphere with thiol-functionalized mesoporous shell was fabricated by using a colloidal chemical method and cationic surfactants (CTAB) as structure-directing agents. As a high performance adsorbent, these microspheres were examined for environmental protection applications to adsorb and remove toxic phenolic compounds and heavy metal ions, sequentially, in aqueous solution. The prepared nanocomposite microspheres were mesoporous and magnetizable, with a diameter of 350–400 nm, a high surface area of 913.14 m2/g, a pore size of 2.48 nm, and a saturation magnetization of 33.9 emu/g. These multifunctional microspheres showed excellent adsorptive capability towards toxic phenolic compounds and heavy metal ions (Hg2+, Pb2+). The cation micelle made of CTAB in the mesopores has great attractive power to phenolic compounds and the adsorption capacity was as high as 144.78 mg/g for 4-methyl-2,6-dinitrophenol. The thiol-functionalized magnetic mesoporous microsphere (TMMM) which had adsorbed phenolic compounds can further adsorb metal ions after removing CTAB. The adsorption capacity was 185.19 mg/g for Hg2+ and 114.7 mg/g for Pb2+. The TMMM can be easily removed from solution by an external magnetic field. These results suggest that this kind of nanocomposites is potentially useful materials for effectively adsorbing and removing different dangerous pollutants in aqueous solution.

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► Thiol-modified magnetic core–shell materials were synthesized.
► As-synthesized materials were used to remove phenolic compounds from waste water.
► The final materials could further remove metal ions from waste water.