MOFs in Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation: Adsorption Separation and Catalytic Degradation

The rapid advancement of industrial and agricultural practices has led to the widespread presence of emerging pollutants, such as perfluorinated compounds, endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, alongside traditional pollutants like nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals in aquatic and soil ecosystems. The concentrations of these pollutants frequently surpass environmental safety standards, necessitating urgent development of innovative materials and technologies to effectively eliminate them. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), composed of metal clusters linked by organic ligands to form novel porous crystals, have garnered tremendous attention in recent years due to their high porosity, unique structure, large surface area, accessible metal sites, and tunable pore sizes, positioning them as a promising solution for pollution control.

Recent studies highlight the potential of MOFs in pollution management, with their high porosity and surface area enabling efficient adsorption of pollutants and capturing of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the highly dispersed metal sites in MOFs establish them as excellent catalytic materials. Despite growing interest, there remains a need to delve deeper into optimizing MOFs’ characteristics and exploring their multifaceted applications in pollutant control and remediation. This Research Topic seeks to advance understanding in this domain and facilitate innovative solutions.

This Research Topic aims to explore the latest advances in the utilization of MOFs for environmental pollution control and remediation. We aim to address specific questions regarding the synthesis, functionalization, and application of MOFs in adsorptive and catalytic processes, as well as to examine the synergistic effects between these processes. To gather further insights into the boundaries of MOFs in pollution control, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Synthesizing MOFs from waste materials

• Adsorption removal of pollutants by MOFs

• Catalytic degradation of pollutants by MOFs

• Catalytic reduction of pollutants by MOFs

• The synergistic effect of adsorption and catalysis by MOFs