New Smart Magnetic Ionic Liquid Nanocomposites Based on Chemically Bonded Imidazole Silica for Water Treatment

[Image: see text] New magnetic silica imidazolium ionic liquid nanocomposites were synthesized by a sol–gel technique. The (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTS) was condensed with glyoxal and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde in acetic acid to produce an amino-modified silica ionic liquid (Si-IIL). The APTS was condensed with TEOS in ethanol and water to prepare amino-modified SiO(2) nanoparticles. The produced amino-modified SiO(2) silica was condensed with glyoxal and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde in acetic acid to produce chemically bonded silica SiO(2)-IIL. The SiO(2)-IIL and Si-IIL were used as capping agents during and after the formation of magnetite nanoparticles in ammonia to produce magnetic SiO(2)-IIL-Fe(3)O(4) and Fe(3)O(4)-Si-IIL adsorbents, respectively. Their chemical structure, morphology, crystalline lattice structure, surface charges, particle sizes, and magnetic characteristics elucidated the formation of core–shell and highly dispersed magnetic nanocomposites. The saturation magnetization values of Fe(3)O(4)-Si-IIL and SiO(2)-IIL-Fe(3)O(4) were 35.3 and 30.8, respectively. The uniform dispersed disconnected spherical morphologies appeared for Fe(3)O(4)-Si-IIL hybrid and the core–shell spherical morphology obtained with SiO(2)-IIL-Fe(3)O(4) hybrid NPs. The Fe(3)O(4)-Si-IIL and SiO(2)-IIL-Fe(3)O(4) show an excellent high chemical adsorption capacities as 460.3 and 300.9 mg·g(–1), respectively (not reported in the literature) when used as an adsorbent to remove CB-R250 water pollutant under optimum conditions. Their applicability and reusability as fast and highly effective adsorbents for Coomassie blue (CB-R250) organic water pollutants were investigated.