3D, eco-friendly metal-organic frameworks@carbon nanotube aerogels composite materials for removal of pesticides in water

To alleviate the secondary risks of using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles as adsorbent, a novel method of loading two MOFs (ZIF-8 or UiO66-NH2) on the carbon nanotube aerogels (MPCA) by in situ nucleation and growth of MOFs nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes were developed. The prepared [email protected] aerogels were well characterized via SEM, TEM, EDS, FT-IR, XRD and XPS to reveal the microstructure and formation mechanism of [email protected] Besides, the hydrophilia, mechanical property and thermostability of [email protected] were investigated. The results showed that [email protected] had good hydrophilia, compression resilience and thermostability. The study on the ability to adsorb herbicides (chipton and alachlor) showed that the adsorption capacity of [email protected] was stronger compared with single MOFs nanoparticles, which indicated that there was a synergistic effect between MOFs and MPCA. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of chipton adsorbed by UiO66-NH2@MPCA was 227.3 mg/g, and can be expediently reused for 5 cycles without a significant decrease in adsorption performance. Moreover, the results of biosafety experiments showed that MPCA can reduce the risk of MOFs nanoparticles leakage into the environment and accumulation in organisms. This work can provide a new research idea, which has potential applications to remove pollutants effectively and safely from the environment.