Ferrocene-Functionalized Silsesquioxane-Based Porous Polymer for Efficient Removal of Dyes and Heavy Metal Ions.

A novel ferrocene-linked organic-inorganic hybrid porous polymer has been successfully prepared by Friedel-Crafts reaction of octavinylsilsesquioxane and ferrocene. The relationship of structure/property was investigated by FTIR, NMR, XRD, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) etc. The obtained porous polymer exhibited a high surface area of 1015 m2  g-1 and a hierarchical pore structure. It could be applied to wastewater treatment with the absorption capacity of up to 1683 mg g-1 for Congo red (CR), 1083 mg g-1 for crystal violet (CV), 1003 mg g-1 for rhodamine B (RB), 441 mg g-1 for methylene blue (MB), 191 mg g-1 for Hg2+ , and 328 mg g-1 for Pb2+ . Remarkably, it could be easily regenerated and the removal efficiency remains almost constant even after six cycles.