Developing fine-tuned metal–organic frameworks for photocatalytic treatment of wastewater: A review

The environmental pollution is still one of the most serious problems facing mankind today, it is of great significance to develop novel wastewater treatment processes. Photocatalysis is regarded as one of the most promising techniques for wastewater treatment. Lately, there is a strong increase in the number of reports on the synthesis and applications of MOF-based photocatalysts. In this review, the typical modification strategies of MOFs for improving photocatalytic activities are summarized, such as optimization of preparation method, surface modification, doping metal ions, loading quantum dots as well as constructing the heterojunction. The main purposes of these modification strategies are to broaden the light absorption range of MOFs and increase the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Advantages and disadvantages of each modification strategy are also analyzed. Meanwhile, the applications of MOFs-based photocatalyst in wastewater treatment are briefly discussed, including reduction of metal ions, degradation of organic pollutants and inactivation of bacteria. More importantly, the challenges and outlooks about MOFs-based photocatalyst are proposed. In short, it is hoped that this review can provide some meaningful references for designing MOFs-based photocatalyst in future research.