Recent progress on the application of MOFs and their derivatives in adsorbing emerging contaminants

Emerging contaminants have widely existed in terrestrial and river and lake ecosystems, and gradually bioaccumulate and amplify along the food chain, seriously threatening the survival of animals and plants and human health. Adsorption has long been regarded as one of the most promising methods to remove pollutants from wastewater. Among various adsorbent materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a new class of porous materials, are considered as an excellent adsorbent due to its high specific surface area, high porosity, high crystallinity, tunable pore size and structure, and abundant active sites. In this review, we analyze the influences of different preparation and modification methods on the structure of MOFs and the improvement of adsorption properties of MOFs and its derivatives. In addition, we focus on the emerging contaminants that pose a great threat to human life and health, and further analyze the adsorption mechanism and the factors that affect the adsorption performance. This review emphasizes the application value of the materials, summarizes the challenges faced by the application of MOFs in adsorbing emerging contaminants, and provides insights for future large-scale applications.