Removal of heavy metals from water by adsorption on metal organic frameworks: Research progress and mechanistic analysis in the last decade

With the development of the materials and nanotechnology, the adsorption of multiple heavy metal pollutants in the aqueous environment by nanomaterials has been widely studied. In particular, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), as a kind of functionalized nanomaterial carriers, can be modified by introducing different ligands and metal ions to enhance the stability and selectivity of the materials for the selective adsorption of multiple heavy metals. Moreover, effective loading of functionalized MOFs onto membranes can be better used for the adsorption and screening of heavy metals. This review presents series of studies of MOFs in various forms for the adsorption of different heavy metals. In addition, the mechanisms between MOFs and multiple heavy metals are constructively summarized and discussed from the molecular level. Finally, the problems of MOFs in heavy metal adsorption and the future development of MOFs adsorbents are also presented.