Phosphate adsorption on aluminum-coordinated functionalized macroporous–mesoporous silica: Surface structure and adsorption behavior

•Al-coordinated functionalized macroporous–mesoporous silica for phosphate removal.•It had the maximum adsorption capacity of 23.59 mg P/g.•Over 95% of the final adsorption capacity reached in the first 1 min.

In this study, Al(III)-coordinated diamino-functionalized macroporous–mesoporous silica was synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption–desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Because of well-defined and interconnecting macroporous–mesoporous networks, the resulting adsorbent (MM-SBA) exhibited a significantly better phosphate adsorption performance and faster removal rate, as compared with the mesoporous adsorbent (M-SBA). Based on the Freundlich and Langmuir models, the phosphate adsorption capacity and the maximum adsorption capacity of MM-SBA were 7.99 mg P/g and 23.59 mg P/g, respectively. In the kinetic study of MM-SBA, over 95% of its final adsorption capacity reached in the first 1 min; whereas that of M-SBA was less than 79%.

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