Eco-friendly and acid-resistant magnetic porous carbon derived from ZIF-67 and corn stalk waste for effective removal of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam from water

Neonicotinoids, extensively present in water environment, can adversely affect the ecological safety and human health. Herein, a low-cost magnetic porous carbon ZIF-67/[email protected] derived from ZIF-67 and agricultural waste corn stalk (CS) is designed and applied for adsorptive removal of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam from water. The adsorbent is fabricated by carbonizing ZIF-67/CS hybrid pre-prepared through an in-situ decoration of ZIF-67 on the surface of CS, and then acid picking to elute the unstable constituents. In the carbonization, Co2+ ions are reduced to magnetic Co0 nanoparticles, with the result that ZIF-67/[email protected] shows a strong magnetic response (saturation magnetization intensity is 12.25 emu‧g−1) and can be easily magnetically separated. Meanwhile, Co nanoparticles are protectively encapsulated in well-developed graphitized wall, which endows ZIF-67/[email protected] with good acid resistance (only 0.23% of Co is leached out at pH 1.0). More importantly, reasonable pore size distribution (most pore sizes match or are 3–6 times that of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) and high external surface area (280 m2‧g−1) are obtained, which makes ZIF-67/[email protected] super adsorbent. The adsorption capacities for imidacloprid and thiamethoxam can reach as high as 189 and 133 mg‧g−1, respectively. Moreover, after six consecutive recycling processes, the adsorption efficiencies are still above 95%, which reveals excellent reusability of ZIF-67/[email protected] Mechanism analysis affirms that pore-filling, H-bond, and π-π EDA interaction are mainly responsible for driving imidacloprid and thiamethoxam adsorption. Finally, ZIF-67/[email protected] with a great security towards Daphnia carinata survival and wheat growth is eco-friendly. This study can be easily adapted to different biomass wastes and MOFs, thus potentially enabling the preparation of more novel adsorbents.