Adsorptive purification of organic contaminants of emerging concern from water with metal–organic frameworks

Recently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been one of the most widely/deeply studied porous materials and have also been applied to the adsorptive purification of wastewater contaminated with harmful organics including contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). In this chapter, briefly, both MOFs and CECs will be introduced. Next, approaches to the use of MOFs in the adsorptive purification of wastewater will be discussed. Not only their performance (in terms of kinetics and capacities) but also the plausible adsorption mechanisms will be covered. To assess the possible applications, the competitiveness of MOFs against conventional adsorbents (mainly activated carbon) and reusability will be discussed. More importantly, modification or functionalization to increase the performance of pristine MOFs will be addressed. Finally, further work that is required for commercialization or which is interesting for basic studies will be suggested.