The co-adsorption potential of metal–organic framework/activated carbon composites against both polar and non-polar volatile organic compounds in air

• The MOF-199@PAC is prepared to treat polar (MEK) and non-polar (benzene) VOCs. • The different adsorption sites of MOF-199@PAC are occupied by MEK and benzene. • The adsorption of target VOCs on MOF-199@PAC may proceed as multilayer adsorption. • The adsorption rate of VOCs on MOF-199@PAC is mainly regulated by film diffusion. Adsorbents with high surface area and diverse functional groups have been developed to deal with volatile organic compounds with different polarities. Herein, a metal-organic framework-199 (MOF-199 (prototypical Cu-MOF))/powdered activated carbon (PAC) composite (MOF-199@PAC) was fabricated and utilized to simultaneously treat multiple VOCs consisting of both non-polar (i.e., benzene) and polar VOCs (i.e., methyl ethyl ketone (MEK)). Kinetic and isotherm models combined with density functional theory simulations were employed to assess the adsorption mechanism of different VOCs onto the MOF-199@PAC composite (e.g., relative to pristine PAC and MOF-199). The overall results suggest that the MOF-199@PAC composite promotes the adsorption of polar (e.g., MEK) and non-polar VOCs (e.g., benzene) on its surface by providing abundant π-π conjugated sites and polar groups, respectively.