Functionalized pollen-like mesoporous silica

N-methylimidazolium-functionalized pollen-like mesoporous silica (MI-PLMS) was successfully prepared by a simple and convenient soft-templating hydrothermal method for the first time. MI-PLMS sub-microspheres possess multi-shell hollow architecture with a relatively high surface area of 400 m2 g−1. Owing to its facile synthesis route and abundant surface functional groups, MI-PLMS could be a potential candidate material in a variety of applications such as drug delivery, water treatment, and catalysis. To evaluate its adsorption performance, the adsorption capacity of hexavalent chromium by MI-PLMS was monitored. Nonlinear kinetics and isotherms models were used for choosing an appropriate mechanism for hexavalent chromium adsorption on the adsorbent and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of adsorbate was found to be 274.01 mg g−1 according to the Langmuir isotherm.