Preparation of a novel silica-based N-donor ligand functional adsorbent for efficient separation of palladium from high level liquid waste

•A novel silica-based N-donor ligand functional adsorbent (SiVpC) was first prepared by in-situ polymerization method.•SiVpC exhibited high saturated adsorption capacity of 38.4 mg Pd/g, good reusability, and high selectivity with SFPd/M > 137.6 in 0.5 M HNO3 solution.•SiVpC has great potential for efficient treatment of Pd in high level liquid waste through column chromatography separation method.