Simultaneous removal of cations and anions from waste water by bifunctional mesoporous silica

•A novel, bifunctional mesoporous silica (Al-SBA-15-G) was synthesized.•Al-SBA-15-G provided appropriate distances for cooperation between antagonist adsorption sites.•Adsorption behavior of Al-SBA-15-G was established by simultaneous removal of cations and anions from waste water.•Al-SBA-15-G exhibited high adsorption efficiency for both Cu2+ and SO42−.•Mechanism for the simultaneous adsorption of cation and anion by Al-SBA-15-G was proposed.