Facile mesoporous template-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of ordered mesoporous magnesium silicate as an efficient adsorbent

Mesoporous materials with unique structure as well as special morphology have potential applications in pollutant adsorption. In this work, using mesoporous silica SBA-15 filled with carbon (C@SBA-15) as both silicon source and assisted template, the ordered mesoporous magnesium silicate (Mg3Si4O9(OH)(4)) has been fabricated at 140 degrees C by a novel and facile hydrothermal method. During the hydrothermal process, the magnesium silicate grew along the silica walls at the expense of consuming silica and deposited on the carbon surface of the C@SBA-15. Meanwhile, the rigid carbon inside the pores of the SBA-15 supported the magnesium silicate as mesoporous walls under hydrothermal condition. The obtained magnesium silicate possessed ordered mesoporous structure, high specific surface area of 446 m(2)/g, large pore volume of 0.84 cm(3)/g, and hierarchical structure assembled with ultrathin nanosheets of 15 nm in thickness. These characteristics endow the ordered mesoporous magnesium silicate with the fast adsorption rate and high adsorption capacity of 382 mg/g for methylene blue. In addition, this synthesis method opens a new approach to fabricate other ordered mesoporous silicates. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.