Ultrafast and high-capacity adsorption of Gd(III) onto inorganic phosphorous acid modified mesoporous SBA-15

•An inorganic phosphorous acid-modified mesoporous SBA-15 was synthesized.•The composite possessed high surface area, lager pore size and pore volume.•There were abundant and highly accessible binding sites present on its surface.•The composite exhibited an exceptional performance for Gd(III) adsorption.

The development of rare earth adsorbent with high adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption rate is one of the most important issues for enriching and recovering rare earth ions. In the present work, an inorganic phosphorous acid-modified mesoporous SBA-15 (P-SBA-15) was facilely synthesized by a simple and cost-effective post-grafting approach, and its adsorption behavior towards the rare earth ion Gd(III) was investigated. Benefiting from high specific surface area (669.7 m2·g−1), large pore size (9.1 nm), and the presence of abundant phosphorous acid groups (1.4 mmol·g−1) on the surface, the P-SBA-15 exhibited an excellent performance in terms of capacity and kinetics on adsorption of Gd(III). Under optimized conditions, the adsorption capacity of P-SBA-15 towards Gd(III) was up to 1.3 mmol·g−1 at 30 °C, which is the second highest value as compared with previously reported Gd(III) adsorbents. Moreover, the adsorption of Gd(III) onto P-SBA-15 was ultrafast, achieving adsorption equilibrium within only 2 min. Test of reusability revealed that this mesoporous adsorbent could be repeatedly used several times without significant loss in binding capacity. This work not only provides a new insight into the fabrication of phosphorous acid-functionalized mesoporous silica, but also demonstrates its prospective application in adsorptive removal and/or recovery of rare earth ions.

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