Recent Developments in Metal-Organic Frameworks for Water Purification: A Mini Review

Heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, dyes, and radionuclides in wastewater increasingly threaten environmental sustainability. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are versatile materials for mitigating these contaminants through efficient detection, capture, adsorption, and degradation. These crystalline structures, formed by combining metal ions with organic ligands, offer high surface area, tailored porosity, reproducibility, and robust chemical stability. This review compiles recent advancements in MOFs for pollutant removal, highlighting innovations in selective adsorption mechanisms for heavy metals, functionalized MOFs for pharmaceutical and microplastic removal, and enhanced photocatalytic degradation for dyes. Unique to this review is the integration of recent innovations such as ion exchange capabilities and photocatalytic degradation under visible light, addressing advanced applications that significantly enhance pollutant removal efficiency that other reviews have not covered comprehensively. The review also cites our group's recent work on a curcumin-immobilized zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (Cmim@ZIF-8) nanoprobe, demonstrating high selectivity for Fe2+ ions in water (detection limit: 7.64 mu M) and its applicability in live-cell imaging of HepG2 cells. Advanced techniques like density functional theory (DFT) simulations are employed to elucidate adsorption and degradation mechanisms, bridging theoretical insights with experimental findings. By critically evaluating these developments, the review identifies promising avenues for optimizing MOF design and advancing effective water treatment solutions. This review highlights recent strategies for removing heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, dyes, and radionuclides using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). It emphasizes mechanisms and theoretical insights (DFT) for selective adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. The future challenges include improving stability, reproducibility, utilizing effective organic linkers, and commercialising MOFs for environmental sustainability. image