Metal–organic gel templated synthesis of magnetic porous carbon for highly efficient removal of organic dyes

Abstract

Magnetic porous carbon composites are promising materials in various applications, such as adsorbents, supercapacitors and catalyst supports, due to their high surface area, thermal and chemical stability, and easy separation. However, despite the increasing number of reports of magnetic porous carbon composites, the preparation of these materials with environmentally friendly procedures still remains a great challenge. Herein, we report a facile method to prepare a magnetic porous carbon composite with high surface area from a Fe-based metal–organic gel (MOG) template, an extended structure of a metal–organic framework (MOF). The obtained magnetic porous carbon composite was applied to remove organic dyes from an aqueous solution by selecting methyl orange (MO) as a model molecule. It exhibits excellent adsorption capacity (182.82 mg g⁻¹), fast adsorption kinetics (8.13 × 10⁻³ g mg⁻¹ min⁻¹), and a perfect magnetic separation performance for the MO removal. This study demonstrates a new way to achieve clean synthesis of magnetic porous carbon materials, and opens a new door for the application of MOGs in organic dye removal.