A functionalized mesoporous carbon composition comprising a mesoporous carbon scaffold having mesopores in which polyvinyl polymer grafts are covalently attached, wherein said mesopores have a size of at least 2 nm and up to 50 nm. Also described is a method for producing the functionalized mesoporous composition, wherein a reaction medium comprising a precursor mesoporous carbon, vinyl monomer, initiator, and solvent is subjected to sonication of sufficient power to result in grafting and polymerization of the vinyl monomer into mesopores of the precursor mesoporous carbon. Also described are methods for using the functionalized mesoporous carbon, particularly in extracting metal ions from metal-containing solutions.