Metal-Organic Frameworks for Heavy Metal Removal from Water

The removal of persistent heavy metal ions and recovery of platinum group metals from industrial wastewater continues to be an essential step in safeguarding the available water resources to ensure the safety of humans, animals, and the environment. With adsorption technology being widely implemented due to its cost-effectiveness, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have gained popularity owing to their high surface area, porosity, and tunable functionality. MOF-based materials have since been developed for various applications such as catalysis, energy storage, sensing, drug delivery, and recently in water purification. This review gives a background of different synthetic routes available for the preparation of MOFs and also their application in various fields. With more emphasis on the removal of pollutants, MOFs have shown to be efficient in removing organic pollutants and heavy metal ions. Furthermore, potential improvement in the adsorption of heavy metals by MOFs through ion-imprinting technology has emerged as a future field to be explored.