Preparation of magnetic carbon spheres derived form 8-quinoliolato Fe(III) complexe and its application in water treatment

•The spherelike 8-quinoliolato Fe(III) complexe is synthesized by solovthermal route.•MCSs are obtained by the synchronous carbonation and activation of the precursor.•MCSs have high surface areas, even pore size and strong magnetic performance.•MCSs demenstrate excellent adsorption property as magnetically separable adsorbent.

Magnetic carbon spheres have been successfully prepared by the synchronous carbonation and activation of the 8-quinoliolato Fe(III) complexe with sphere morphology, which has been synthesized by solovthermal method. The obtained composite possesses relatively even pore diameter of 3.8 nm, high surface area of 335.59 m2/g with 52.67 wt.% Fe3O4 coated, and a saturation magnetization (Ms) of 35.27 emu/g. Dye separation performance of the magnetic carbon spheres is investigated using methylene orange and methylene blue as modle. The resluts show that the maxium adsorption capacity for methylene orange and methylene blue is 128.70 mg g−1 and 151.29 mg g−1, respectively, and the process can rapidly reach adsorption equilibrium within 5 min, which is important for the application of the as-prepared magnetic carbon spheres.

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