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

Abstract

An integrated laboratory experience using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a nanoporous and crystalline extended solid material composed of metal cations and organic linkers, was developed and adopted for upper-division, major-level chemistry and biochemistry students. In this laboratory, students were guided through the facile solvothermal synthesis of four MOFs: UiO-66, UiO-66-NH2, ZIF-8, and ZIF-67. Characterization, specifically powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) were used to evaluate the crystallinity, morphology, and composition of the MOFs, respectively. Students then investigated the effects of measurement conditions (MOF dosage, MOF surface charge, and charge density of dye counterions) on the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions using the synthesized MOFs. Through the utilization of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV–vis spectroscopy, students confirmed the binding of dyes and quantified the amounts of dye removed from solution. Students found that all four porous and crystalline MOFs removed acid orange 7 and malachite green from water, but ZIF-67 exhibited the highest adsorption capacity of 30 mg of acid orange 7 per gram of ZIF-67 at a dosage of 5 mg. This laboratory experience allows students to apply and connect concepts found in general, organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry while simultaneously getting introduced to various instrumentation and lab techniques within a growing field in materials chemistry. Exposure to this field can help stimulate student interest, expose them to sustainability problems and potential solutions, and implement strategies to help solve these challenges.

Development of MOF Based Recyclable Photocatalyst for the Removal of Different Organic Dye Pollutants

“…Water is one of the most important essential requirements for every living organism in the ecosystem. Over recent years, the environment has been contaminated severely by organic pollutants found in industrial effluents, including various cationic and anionic dyes [ 1 , 2 ]. With the current fast-industrialization and technological development, there is an urgent need to protect the environment from pollution especially water pollution [ 3 ].…”

Prácticas de Materiales y Nanomateriales para Estudiantes de Primer Curso de Ingeniería Física

“…En este sentido, la educación universitaria de la química hace uso de las prácticas de laboratorio como un contexto privilegiado de enseñanza (Sánchez, 2017). La importancia de las prácticas se pone de manifiesto en la bibliografía, donde se han reportado experiencias de laboratorio puesto que permiten a los estudiantes aplicar y conectar diferentes conceptos químicos del área de química de materiales además de usar diversas técnicas de laboratorio e instrumentación (Todd, 2022), y el uso de nanopartículas como sensores (Revignas, 2022). Por tanto, la idea desarrollada en este proyecto para que el alumnado pueda preparar materiales porosos tipo MOF y nanopartículados basados en los diferentes conceptos del temario de la asignatura, se ha cumplido con éxito y como resultado se han podido elaborar dos prácticas de laboratorio innovadoras adecuadas a las habilidades y los conocimientos que se les exige a los estudiantes.…”

Adsorption of a PFAS Utilizing MOF-808: Development of an Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment in a Capstone Course

“…A common theme when developing new laboratories for the undergraduate curriculum is introducing students to exciting, cutting-edge research topics within a particular discipline . As an example, in inorganic chemistry, a rapidly expanding area of research has focused on a class of solid-state materials termed metal–organic frameworks (aka MOFs) and significant effort has been dedicated to introducing these materials into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. − MOFs are built up from metal-based nodes and organic linkers . Some intriguing features of these materials include the ability to readily modify their components (both the nodes and linkers), their propensity to be crystalline, and the presence of void spaces which has opened up a host of applications centered around the principles of adsorption including catalysis, separation, and filtration …”