Facile and economical synthesis of metal–organic framework MIL-100(Al) gels for high efficiency removal of microcystin-LR

Microcystins (MCs) have caused a severe environmental problem throughout the world. The conventional treatment by the chemical methods of chlorination or potassium permanganate oxidation unavoidably produce unfavorable byproducts. Hitherto, researchers had experienced no great success in their attempts to seek an economical purification method, by using physical adsorbents, to satisfy the requirements for safe drinking water. Here, we facilely synthesized two novel nanoporous metal–organic framework MIL-100(Al) based gels for high efficiency removal of MC-LR, the most toxic member of MC family. The resultant MIL-100(Al) xerogel and aerogel can remove over 96.3 wt% of the MC-LR in water, and their adsorption capacities are as high as 6861 and 9007 μg g−1 at an initial MC-LR concentration of 10 000 ppb, respectively. Unprecedentedly, the lowest residual MC-LR concentration can reach 0.093 μg L−1, which is much lower than the standard concentration for drinking water of 1 μg L−1. This work gives rise to a new way of removing serious biological pollutants of water by using novel nanoporous adsorbents.