Background:
The removal of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from the contaminated water by employing
photocatalytic adsorption is considered as one of the most emerging technologies due to their cost- and energy-effectiveness. Both
have attracted the significant attention of global researchers to process the world’s wastewater.
Methods:
Among different adsorbents, the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated remarkable potential and a bright
future perspective in the photocatalytic-based adsorptive removal of POPs from wastewater. This review deals with the introduction
of MOFs and contaminations in wastewater followed by the synthesis method for MOFs and their properties. The review is
extended to the review of mechanisms for the photocatalytic adsorption along with the recent progress in the removal of persistent
toxic substances, pesticides, herbicides, phenols, and antibiotics. Furthermore, the future challenges in this promising area are also
discussed.
Results:
Much research work has been done in the area of photocatalytic adsorptive removal of the POPs using the MOFs due to
their significant structural and texture properties. Substantial research efforts have been carried out to functionalize the MOFs in
order to improve its adsorption potential. Overall, this review demonstrated that the MOFs can be applied successfully for the
photocatalytic adsorptive removal of the POPs from the contaminated water.
Conclusion:
Despite the bright future perspective of the MOFs, there are some issues that need to be accounted for: The
development of MOFs with redox-active metals and/or organic functionalized ligands, MOFs application for the photocatalytic
adsorptive removal of the gaseous contaminants, in-depth understanding of the mechanism of the photocatalytic adsorptive removal
of the POPs, and the application of the MOFs for photocatalytic adsorptive removal of the POPs at real environmental conditions.
The fast development of the MOFs in the recent era indicates a bright future perspective in spite of the challenges in this area.
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