Versatile heavy metals removal via magnetic mesoporous nanocontainers

Versatile heavy metal ions removal is performed via iron oxide core mesoporous silica shell nanocontainers functionalized with diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid. Magnetic separation from aqueous media is obtained for a dozen of the most toxic heavy metal ions with remarkable efficiencies. Furthermore, this study demonstrates enhancement of the adsorption capacities with the combination of porous and surface functionalization of the nanocontainers.