Simple synthesis of Ni-containing ordered mesoporous carbons and their adsorption/desorption of methylene orange

A simple route has been developed to synthesize magnetic Ni-containing ordered mesoporous carbons (Ni/OMCs) without using a solvent for dissolving carbon precursor or magnetic source. The adsorption and desorption of methylene orange (MO) on the obtained Ni/OMCs were investigated. The effects of Ni(NO3)(2) loading amount and carbonization temperature on the morphologies, the structural parameters and magnetic properties of these Ni/OMCs were evaluated by X-ray diffraction(XRD), N-2 sorption analysis, transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and physical property measurements. With the increase of Ni(NO3)(2) loading amount, the ordering of the mesoporous structures, the specific surface area and the total pore volumes of Ni/OMCs decreased, but the pore diameters of Ni/OMCs and the sizes of Ni particle increased. The saturation magnetization strength could be easily adjusted by varying the amount of Ni(NO3)(2). The specific surface area and total pore volumes decreased with the increasing of carbonization temperature. The size of Ni particle was the biggest at 750 degrees C. The adsorption of MO into Ni/OMCs followed the Sips adsorption model. More interestingly, a simple equation was obtained and was proved to well fit the desorption behavior of MO on Ni/OMCs. The values for the relative fitted parameters were obtained and the physical meanings of the parameters were well defined. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.