Efficient Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Water Using Urea-Functionalized Metal-Organic Frameworks

The pollution of surface and groundwater with heavy metals is a serious global concern, bothenvironmentally, as well as with respect to human health. Recently, porous metal-organicframeworks (MOFs), with metallic clusters and organic linkers, have been developed as promisingstructures in capturing different toxic and hazardous substances, including heavy metal ions,because of their unique features[۱-۵]. This study synthesized two copper-based MOFs, usinghydrothermal methods. These MOFs are densely decorated with urea functional groups, whichenable them to selectively and efficiently remove various heavy-metal ions, such as Hg۲+ and Pb۲+,from water. The structures of these MOFs allow for the effective sorption of these metal ions. Thisresearch demonstrates urea-functionalized MOFs as a highly efficient adsorbent for removingheavy metals.

Keywords:

Water pollution , Heavy metal ions , Metal-organic framework (MOF) , Adsorption , Removal