Adsorptive removal of organic pollutants with a specific functional group from water by using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) or MOF-derived carbons: A review

Recently, contamination of water resources with organic pollutants has been serious in many countries. Elimination of such organics from water can be carried out via adsorption using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) or MOF-derived carbons (MDCs). In this review, the progress in the adsorptive removal of organics with MOFs or MDCs is summarized. Especially, the investigated adsorption or adsorption mechanism is analyzed based on the functional groups (FGs, like –COOH, –OH, –NO2, –NH2, –SO3H, etc.) on the organics or adsorbates rather than the adsorption of various organics by using MOFs or MDCs composed of specific FGs (which has been the general approach, so far). Developing an adsorption technology would be more efficient through analyzing the adsorption based on the FGs present in the adsorbates, rather than focusing on the FGs in the adsorbents. In other words, promising adsorbents might be effectively designed or selected based on the properties of the target adsorbates having a specific FG. Finally, the perspectives for future research are also provided, before the summary/conclusion of the review.