## 1 Introduction
In this way, the costs of producing new materials and the amounts of the deposits of spent adsorbents can be reduced. Such action is also part of sustainable material management. Regarding the regeneration of activated carbons with adsorbed dyes, the commonly used method is based on the desorption of the adsorbate using various agents such as bases, acids, oxidants, organic solvents, water, and salts [50; 51]. Moreover, physical regeneration by thermal treatment under an inert atmosphere or using microwaves is also widely applied [52; 53]. Another valuable class of porous materials is highly cross-linked organic polymers. Generally, they are obtained via radical copolymerisation with the presence of diluents. In the course of polymerisation, at a certain degree of conversion, the process of phase separation occurs. The initially homogeneous polymerisation mixture is split into solid and liquid phases. The solid phase is composed of a cross-linked polymer network, whereas the solvent and unreacted comonomers make up the liquid phase. The phase separation is induced by the increase of cross-linking degree (\(\
u\)-syneresis) or by the change in the polymer-solvent interaction (macro- or microsynensis). In microsynresis, the liquid phase is dispersed in the polymer gel phase whereas in macrosyneresis, nuclei are formed. The nuclei are microgels with a higher-than-average cross-linking density surrounded by a liquid phase. Nuclei react with each other through free double bonds, forming macrogels. The free space between macrogels generates mesopores whereas micropores are present between nuclei. The occurrence of macrogel agglomerates leads to macropores. The phase separation, and consequently the polymer porosity, depends on multiple polymerisation variables; e.g., the type of cross-linking monomer, the porogenic solvent (type and amount), and the ratio between the functional and the cross-linking monomers. By adjusting these independent parameters, diverse porous structures can be obtained [54; 55; 56; 57; 58]. After using highly cross-linked organic polymers as adsorbents, they can be regenerated. As the copolymers are stable in the whole range of pH, various desorbing agents can be applied. Additionally, the good thermal resistance of the investigated copolymers enables drying at elevated temperatures. The combination of both thermal and chemical regeneration techniques is also a promising option. In this work, the adsorption properties of mesoporous carbon and polymer materials are investigated. The synthesis methods allow the design of adsorbents with divergent porosity and physicochemical characteristics by changing the reaction mixture composition and the conditions in which the process is conducted. As a result, the materials of differentiated surface and structural properties were obtained which show a different affinity towards selected dyes. Research on the relationship between the type of porosity and chemical composition of the adsorbent surface, and the uptake and rate of adsorption, is the basis for designing adsorbents for specific applications. To synthesise carbon materials with extended and hierarchical porosity, the amphiphilic triblock copolymers with the basic molecular structure polyoxyethylene-polyoxyethylene (PEO-PPO-PEO), (PE6400 and PE9400), were used as nanostructure directing agents of the mesoporous silica phase and a source of the carbon phase during carbonisation. For the synthesis of the porous copolymers, a suspension copolymerisation was used. The adsorption properties of the obtained materials with developed mesoporous were studied for the adsorbates characterized by larger molecular sizes for which the microporous activated carbons are not useful as effective adsorbents. The equilibrium and kinetic measurements were conducted to determine the adsorbents' effectiveness, taking into account the adsorption rate and capacity. The adsorption capacity and rate were correlated with the adsorbate properties, and the surface and structural characteristics of synthesized materials.