Herein, we described a tunable method for synthesis of novel hollow mesoporous carbon (MPC) via direct pyrolysis (800 ^o C) of MIL-53 (Fe) as a self-sacrificed template. The structural characterization revealed a hollow, amorphous, defective and mesoporous MPC along with high surface area (approx. 200 m ² g ⁻¹ ). For the experiments of ibuprofen adsorption onto MPC, effects of contact time, MPC dosage, ionic strength, concentration and temperature were systematically investigated. The optimal conditions consisted of pH = 3, concentration 10 mg l ⁻¹ and dose of 0.1 g l ⁻¹ for the highest ibuprofen removal efficiency up to 88.3% after 4 h. Moreover, adsorption behaviour, whereby chemisorption and monolayer controlled the uptake of ibuprofen over MPC, were assumed. Adsorption mechanisms including H-bonding, π–π interaction, metal–oxygen, electrostatic attraction were rigorously proposed. In comparison to several studies, the MPC nanocomposite in this work obtained the outstanding maximum adsorption capacity (206.5 mg g ⁻¹ ) and good reusability (5 cycles); thus, it can be used as a feasible alternative for decontamination of ibuprofen anti-inflammatory drug from water.

Natural graphite, a locally available, eco-friendly, and low-cost carbonaceous source, can be easily transformed into exfoliated graphite (EG) with many surface functional groups via a chemical oxidation route. Combination between EG and magnetic MnFe₂O₄ is a promising strategy to create a hybrid kind of nanocomposite (EG@MnFe₂O₄) for the efficient adsorptive removal of Congo red (CR) dye from water. Here, we reported the facile synthesis and characterization of chemical bonds of EG@MnFe₂O₄ using several techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In particular, the quantity method by Boehm titration was employed to identify the content of functional groups: Carboxylic acid (0.044 mmol/g), phenol (0.032 mmol/g), lactone (0.020 mmol/g), and total base (0.0156 mmol/g) on the surface of EG@MnFe₂O₄. Through the response surface methodology-optimized models, we found a clear difference in the adsorption capacity between EG-decorated MnFe₂O₄ (62.0 mg/g) and MnFe₂O₄ without EG decoration (11.1 mg/g). This result was also interpreted via a proposed mechanism to elucidate the contribution of surface functional groups of EG@MnFe₂O₄ to adsorption efficiency towards CR dye.