Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for the efficient removal of contaminants from water: Underlying mechanisms, recent advances, challenges, and future prospects

Water pollution has always been one of the main reasons for the water shortage issue. At present, various inorganic and emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) are the main environmental pollutants in water. How to effectively remove these contaminants is a critical issue for water recycling. Metal–organic framework (MOF) is a new type of porous material with the characteristics of large specific surface area and high controllability, and it can selectively remove various pollutants in water, thus showing an excellent application prospect in the field of water treatment. This paper summarizes the underlying adsorption and catalytic degradation mechanisms of inorganic contaminants (IOCs) and EOCs in water by MOFs, and discusses the best performing three-dimensional (3D)-MOFs and MOFs-based composites that have been tested to date for IOCs and EOCs elimination. Details of each framework and its properties are also included. Finally, the challenges encountered in the design and production of MOF-type materials as well as in their application in water remediation are summarized, and the future prospects are put forward for their expected industrial implement.