Facile preparation of ultrathin-wall graphitic mesoporous carbon containing graphene sheets with desirable adsorption performance for organic dyes

A novel ultrathin-wall graphitic mesoporous carbon (UGMC) with graphene sheets was fabricated by direct pyrolysis of the mixture of sucrose and aluminum sulfate. Pyrolysis behavior of the mixture was studied using TG and XRD. The structures of the UGMC prepared were analyzed by FESEM, TEM, Raman, BET and XPS, and its adsorption performances for Congo red (CR), malachite green (MG) and methylene blue (MB) were investigated by bath adsorption experiments. Results show that the development of UGMC undergoes a series of procedures including the formation of Al2O3 and Al3C4 and the decomposition of Al3C4 during pyrolysis of the mixture. Meanwhile, high temperature environment leads to the generation of graphene sheets from UGMC. The unique structure of the UGMC containing graphene sheets endows it with excellent adsorption performance. The experimental maximum adsorptive capacities of the UGMC for CR, MG and MB are 738.9 mg g−1, 713.4 mg g−1 and 522.2 mg g−1, respectively, and the experimental data fit well with the standard Freundlich isotherm and the pseudo-second-order model. Moreover, the UGMC exhibits good recyclability even after five regeneration cycles. [Display omitted] •Fluffy ultrathin-wall graphitic mesoporous carbon (UGMC) is successfully prepared.•High temperature environment leads to the generation of graphene sheets from UGMC.•The UGMC with graphene sheets exhibits excellent adsorption performances for dyes.•The UGMC prepared presents good recyclability even after five regeneration cycles.