Polyethylenimine-tannins coated SiO2 (SiO2@PEI-TA) hybrid materials have been prepared via a single-step multifunctional coating with polyethylenimine (PEI) and tannins (TA), and characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The as-prepared SiO2@PEI-TA composites were examined as adsorbents to remove the Cu2+ from aqueous solution. The effects of contact time, initial Cu2+ concentration, solution pH and temperature, on Cu2+ adsorption have been investigated. The results show that the adsorption of Cu2+ onto SiO2@PEI-TA is dependent on the contact time, Cu2+ concentration, pH and temperature. The SiO2@PEI-TA composites show a 2.4-fold increase in adsorption capacity, implying that the introduction of PEI-TA coating is in favor of the Cu2+ adsorption. Based on the analysis of kinetic data, the kinetics of Cu2+ adsorption is more accurately described by the pseudo-second- order model. The equilibrium data are analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Results of isotherms show that the better agreement is Freundlich isotherm model with correlation coefficient of 0.9914, which suggests that the adsorption of Cu2+ onto SiO2@PEI-TA is mainly a heterogeneous adsorption process. Thermodynamic analyses show that the adsorption interaction is actually a spontaneous and endothermic chemical process, which might involve the chemical chelation between Cu2+ and functional groups (amine and carboxyl groups) on the surface of SiO2@PEI-TA. In addition, the Cu2+ ions could desorb from SiO2@PEI-TA by using acid solution and the adsorption efficiency remains at high level after five adsorption-desorption recycles. These results provide potential applications of these novel adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal Cu2+ from aqueous solution and also provide strong evidence to support the adsorption mechanism proposed in the study. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.