Magnetic mesoporous iron oxide/silica composite aerogels with high adsorption ability for organic pollutant removal

In this paper, a kind of magnetic mesoporous iron oxide/silica composite aerogels with high adsorption ability is prepared by ambient pressure drying method. The results indicate that the obtained magnetic aerogels with Fe/Si (molar ratio) > 0.91 % have higher specific surface area with 310.8-411.0 m(2) g(-1) and pore volume with 0.85-1.12 cm(3) g(-1). The adsorption test indicates that the obtained magnetic aerogels showed prominent adsorption capability with the adsorption rate for Rhodamine B in aqueous solution could attain to 95.8 % within 80 min. Moreover, all the composite aerogels exhibited good magnetic properties and could be easily separated from the water after adsorption.