Preparation of a novel citric acid-crosslinked Zn-MOF/chitosan composite and application in adsorption of chromium(VI) and methyl orange from aqueous solution

• A novel citric acid-crosslinked ZnBDC/CSC composite based on MOF and chitosan was prepared. • ZnBDC/CSC showed both high adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) and MO. • Adsorption of Cr(VI) on ZnBDC/CSC followed Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order model. • Adsorption of MO on ZnBDC/CSC followed Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second order model. • Adsorption mechanisms of Cr(VI) and MO on ZnBDC/CSC involved various chemical interactions. A novel citrate-crosslinked Zn-MOF/chitosan ( ZnBDC/CSC ) composite was successfully prepared by immobilizing Zn-MOF ( ZnBDC ) on citrate-crosslinked chitosan ( CSC ) using citric acid as a chemical bridge. ZnBDC/CSC was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, solid-state 13 C NMR, BET and SEM. The adsorption of ZnBDC/CSC for Cr(VI) and MO from aqueous solutions were studied at pH 5.0. The adsorption conditions, such as adsorption time and initial concentration of Cr(VI) and MO solutions were investigated. The results indicated that ZnBDC/CSC showed high adsorption capacity for both Cr(VI) (225 ± 4 mg g −1 ) and MO (202 ± 3 mg g −1 ), respectively. The adsorption of Cr(VI) on ZnBDC/CSC could be well described by Langmuir isotherm model, while MO followed Freundlich model. The adsorption kinetic of Cr(VI) and MO demonstrated a better fitness to the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Thermodynamic parameters (enthalpy ( ΔH ), entropy ( ΔS ) and Gibbs free energy ( ΔG )) demonstrated that the adsorption processes of Cr(VI) and MO on ZnBDC/CSC were exothermic, disordered and spontaneous at 298−318 K. The adsorption mechanism of ZnBDC/CSC for Cr(VI) could be mainly explained by electrostatic attraction and cation-π interaction, while for MO, it could be assigned to n-π and π-π interactions, electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding. ZnBDC/CSC could be recycled and reused for the removal of Cr(VI) and MO.