Ciprofloxacin adsorption on a mesoporous carbon prepared by a dual-template route

Mesoporous carbon with a high specific surface area (1,342.8 m²/g) and a high mesopore volume (1.396 cm³/g) was prepared from Novalac phenol–formaldehyde resin as a carbon source, with F127 and nanosized silica as templates, followed by carbonization at high temperature. For comparison, other mesoporous carbon materials were prepared with only one template. The application of these mesoporous carbon materials and a commercial activated carbon for ciprofloxacin (CIP) removal from aqueous solution was investigated. At a low CIP concentration, the maximum adsorption of CIP on the mesoporous carbon was as high as 243.91 mg/g, which was the largest among these carbon materials and higher than that in literature. The adsorption capacities of these carbon adsorbents increased with an increase in mesopore volume. The equilibrium adsorption data were well described by the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The effect of pH on the CIP adsorption was studied to investigate the adsorption mechanism.