Facile Synthesis of a Metal–Organic Framework for Removal of Methyl Blue from Water: First-Year Undergraduate Teaching Lab

Abstract

A laboratory experiment that involves the synthesis, characterization, and application exploration of a metal−organic framework (MOF) has been developed for first-year undergraduates in the Faculty of Engineering at National University of Singapore. The desired MOF material was prepared from commercially available reagents in a facile stirring-assisted synthetic method with minimal safety concerns. In order to ensure that the whole experiment could be finished within a regular 3 h lab session, the corresponding commercial MOF material was used for characterization and application studies. Specifically, a powder X-ray diffractometer (PXRD) was adopted to evaluate the crystallinity of the commercial MOF material. Moreover, the potential of this MOF material for real-life applications was exemplified by the ability of its commercial counterpart for the selective dye removal from aqueous solutions. This laboratory experiment offers the opportunity for instructors to introduce first-year undergraduates without a specific background in chemistry or materials science to state-of-the-art advanced porous materials, a modern characterization instrument, and the broader impacts of materials chemistry.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Evaluation of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Water Decontamination: An Integrated Experiment

“…Undergraduate laboratory activities exploiting host–guest chemistry between MOFs and water contaminants have also been developed. Cheng et al introduced first-year undergraduates to ZIF-8 for removal of methyl blue dye in aqueous solution . Similarly, Sakamaki et al trained undergraduate students with at least one year of organic chemistry to synthesize and characterize MOF-5, ZIF-8, and MIL-101 (Fe) for adsorption of I 2 in aqueous solution .…”

“…However, this work differs from previous host–guest chemistry experiments in three important ways. First, previous works involving MOFs for water decontamination focused on investigating adsorption capacity of one contaminant in MOFs without changing any conditions. , On the contrary, this work investigates the effects of MOF dosage, MOF surface charge, and dye counterion charge density on the adsorption capacity of dyes. Second, while previous MOF laboratory activities focused on studying one MOF or three MOFs all from three different topologies, this activity focuses on structure–property relationshipsa cornerstone of materials chemistry.…”

“…First, previous works involving MOFs for water decontamination focused on investigating adsorption capacity of one contaminant in MOFs without changing any conditions. , On the contrary, this work investigates the effects of MOF dosage, MOF surface charge, and dye counterion charge density on the adsorption capacity of dyes. Second, while previous MOF laboratory activities focused on studying one MOF or three MOFs all from three different topologies, this activity focuses on structure–property relationshipsa cornerstone of materials chemistry. This is done by using four MOFs, specifically two from the sodalite topology (ZIF-8 and ZIF-67) and two from the body-centered cubic topology (UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH 2 ).…”

Synthesis, Characterization, and Electrocatalytic Activity Exploration of MOF-74: A Research-Style Laboratory Experiment

“…Up to now, MOFs materials have been widely explored for educational approaches in undergraduate laboratory . For instance, Zhao et al introduced to undergraduate students not only the synthesis of classic ZIF-8 in combination with modern characterization techniques (PXRD and UV–vis spectroscopy) but also the performance investigation of it to dye sorption from wastewater .…”

Visualizing Pore Packing and Topology in MOFs

“…Publications about MOFs in this journal have primarily concerned synthesis and characterization. − One report was a study of the impact of including material about MOFs as an introduction to authentic research . Another included model building of MOFs using interlocking disks sold as toys to introduce the topology of primary and secondary building units, discussed further below.…”