Facile synthesis of phenyl-modified magnetic graphene/mesoporous silica with hierarchical bridge-pore structure for efficient adsorption of pesticides

Abstract

Novel phenyl-modified magnetic graphene/mesoporous silica (MG-MS-Ph) composites with hierarchical bridge-pore structure were successfully synthesized. The magnetic graphene (MG) as bridge were obtained by one-step solvothermal approach and then phenyl-functionalized mesoporous silica (MS-Ph) as pore modified the MG surfaces through one-pot facile strategy. The resulting MG-MS-Ph exhibited large surface area (446.5 m2g−1), highly ordered mesopores with uniform pore size (2.8 nm) and pore volume (0.32 cm3g−1) and higher saturation magnetization (25 emu g−1). These wonderful features made MG-MS-Ph as a promising magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the removal of pesticides from wastewater. Batch adsorption studies indicated that the novel composites exhibited superior adsorption capacity of pesticides compared with other adsorbents including Activated carbon, Multi-walled carbon nanotube and Single-walled carbon nanotube. Therefore, MG-MS-Ph as a low cost and efficient adsorbents for the removal of toxic pesticides would be economically and technically feasible.