Khalid M. Alotaibi, Lewis Shiels, Laure Lacaze, Tanya A. Peshkur, Peter Anderson, Libor Machala, Kevin Critchley, Siddharth V. Patwardhan, Lorraine T. Gibson

Iron has been used previously in water decontamination, either unsupported or supported on clays, polymers, carbons or ceramics such as silica. However, the reported synthesis procedures are tedious, lengthy (involving various steps), and either utilise or produce toxic chemicals. Herein, the use of a simple, rapid, bio-inspired green synthesis method is reported to prepare, for the first time, a family of iron supported on green nanosilica materials ([email protected]) to create new technological solutions for water remediation. In particular, [email protected] were employed for the removal of arsenate ions as a model for potentially toxic elements in aqueous solution. Several characterization techniques were used to study the physical, structural and chemical properties of the new [email protected] When evaluated as an adsorption platform for the removal of arsenate ions, [email protected] exhibited high adsorption capacity (69 mg of As per g of [email protected]) with superior kinetics (reaching ∼35 mg As per g sorbent per hr) - threefold higher than the highest removal rates reported to date. Moreover, a method was developed to regenerate the [email protected] allowing for a full recovery and reuse of the adsorbent in subsequent extractions; strongly highlighting the potential technological benefits of these new green materials.