Selective and enhanced adsorption of the monosubstituted benzenes on the Fe-modified MCM-41: Contribution of the substituent groups

The Fe-modified spherical meso-silica MCM-41 was synthesized via the base precipitation with Fe3+/urea, and the structure was characterized. Especially, the selective and enhanced adsorption characters and mechanism of the monosubstituted benzenes were investigated. The results showed that Fe modification increased the specific surface area of MCM-41 and retained the mesopore structure. Importantly, adsorption of the monosubstituted benzenes indicated that the adsorption behavior of the monosubstituted benzenes on the Fe-modified MCM-41 (Fe-MCM-41) was a monolayer adsorption on the heterogeneous surfaces, and it showed great selective adsorption towards aniline, and the maximum adsorption capacity of the Fe-MCM-41 towards aniline was 17.5 and 7.9 times of nitrobenzene and phenol. Additionally, the adsorption process and the isotherm of aniline conformed to the pseudo-second order kinetic mode and the Langmuir mode. The maximum adsorption capacity of the Fe-MCM-41 and the pure MCM-41 towards aniline were 17.9 and 1.9 mg g−1, which indicated that the Fe modification significantly enhanced the adsorption capacity of MCM-41 towards aniline. Mechanism analysis reveals that the selective adsorption of the monosubstituted benzenes was attributed to the electron donating/withdrawing capacity of the substituent groups on benzene ring. Due to the electron withdrawing capacity of O atom, the exposed Fe atom of the ferric oxide loaded in the Fe-MCM-41 gave a strong electrophilic surface, which electrostatically interacted with the electron donating group (amino) in aniline. •Fe-modified meso-silica MCM-41 was synthesized by heated precipitation of Fe3+/urea.•The monosubstituted benzenes showed selective adsorption on the Fe-modified MCM-41.•Aniline showed a selective and enhanced adsorption on the Fe-modified MCM-41.•The selective adsorption was due to the electron donating capacity of amine group.