Synthesis,modification,and characterization of ordered mesoporous carbons for aqueous mercury ion removal

An ordered mesoporous carbon(OMC) was synthesized by in situ polymerization of acrylic acid in an ordered silica template(SBA-15),followed by carbonization and template removal.The OMC was subsequently functionalized with ethylenediamine by a combined treatment of nitric acid and thionyl chloride to obtain a functionalized ordered mesoporous carbon(FOMC).This was characterized by SEM-EDS,XRD,FT-IR and nitrogen adsorption and evaluated for mercuric ion sorption from the aqueous phase.It was found that OMC and FOMC had an ordered mesoporous structure,with surface area,average pore size and pore volume of 607 m2/g,4.1 nm,0.62 cm3/g and 558 m2/g,3.8 nm,0.58 cm3/g,respectively.The treatments using nitric acid and thionyl chloride were effective to add the amine ligands to the OMC.Mercury sorption kinetics and equilibrium isotherms showed that the Hg(II) sorption capacity of FOMC was double that of OMC,suggesting a high affinity of the amine-containing FOMC for Hg(II) ions.