Abstract
Annular rings with controllable sizes are successfully created on the surface of COOH-functionalized mesoporous silica (namely, XC-CAR-10, where X represents the number of carbons in the diamines used) for the adsorption of metal ions. In particular, excellent adsorption ability and selectivity towards Pb 2+ (ca. 300 μg mg -1 ) were achieved using 3C-CAR-10. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.