Novel mesoporous Fe3O4/SiO2/CTAB-SiO2 as an effective adsorbent for the removal of amoxicillin and tetracycline from water

The current study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of using magnetic mesoporous of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-functionalized silica-coated magnetite for removing amoxicillin (AMX) and tetracycline (TC) from tap water, river water, and medical wastewater as real samples. The properties of the synthesized adsorbent were characterized through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, pH(pzc), and also Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) methods. The BET surface area and the average diameter of mesoporous Fe3O4/SiO2/CTAB-SiO2 in accordance with TEM were 157.8 m(2) g(-1) and around 55 nm, respectively. In batch tests, the adsorption parameters, including the initial concentration, contact time, pH of solution, ionic strength, and adsorbent dose, were analysed. The experimental adsorption data were modelled using different classical and recently developed models. According to the results, the maximum adsorption capacities of AMX and TC on mesoporous Fe3O4/SiO2/CTAB-SiO2 were found to be 362.66 and 220.70 mg g(-1), respectively. Also, the results indicated that AMX and TC loaded on the adsorbent could be easily desorbed with 0.1 mol L-1 HNO3 (+) acetonitrile (1:1, v/v) and the adsorbent showed good reusability for the adsorption of the drugs studied.