Porous magnetic cellulose beads have been successfully prepared via a facile one-pot wet extrusion by in situ depositing CoFe2O4 nanoparticles on cellulose beads. Cellulose beads serve as a template to prevent CoFe2O4 particles from aggregating. The deposited CoFe2O4 nanoparticles are tightly entrapped within cellulose beads because of the strong attractive interactions between the cellulose beads and CoFe2O4 particles. The functionalized cellulose beads can be easily separated from aqueous solution by the external magnetic field. The encapsulated CoFe2O4 nanoparticles act as the magnetic substrate and the active sites to adsorb metal ions. An attractive feature of this preparation method is that it is versatile to prepare a variety of cellulose-based functional nanocomposites in the form of macroscopic beads by incorporating functional particles into the pores of cellulose beads.
