Magnetically-separable hierarchically porous carbon monoliths with partially graphitized structures as excellent adsorbents for dyes

Magnetically-separable hierarchically porous carbon monoliths with partially graphitized structures were synthesized through confinement self-assembly in polyurethane (PU) foam associated with a direct carbonization process from triblock copolymer F127, phenolic resol and ferric nitrate. It was observed that the magnetic Fe nanoparticles were embedded in the walls of graphitic porous carbon matrix, and the resulting materials exhibited hierarchically porous structure with macropores of 100–450 μm, mesopore size of 4.8 nm, BET surface area of 723 m²/g, pore volume of 0.46 cm³/g, and saturation magnetization of 3.1 emu/g. Using methylene blue as model dye pollutant in water, the carbon monolith materials showed high adsorption capacity of 190 mg/g, exhibiting excellent adsorption characteristics desirable for the application in adsorption of dyes and easy separation under an external magnetic field.