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Organic pollutants in water present persistent environmental and public health risks. Conventional treatments such as adsorption, chlorination, and membrane filtration frequently fail to mineralize recalcitrant compounds. Heterogeneous photocatalysis using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) within advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has emerged as a promising approach for generating reactive oxygen species and achieving efficient degradation. This review critically evaluates how MOF composition, structure, and electronic properties influence photocatalytic performance. It compares synthesis strategies, including solvothermal and microwave routes, the use of modulators, post-synthetic modification, defect engineering, and the formation of heterojunctions or composites. The impacts of these strategies on crystal structure, surface area and porosity, particle size, thermal and chemical stability, band structure, and active-site accessibility are systematically mapped. The review places particular emphasis on bandgap tuning, light harvesting, and suppression of charge recombination through linker design, metal-node selection, defect control, cocatalysts, and the incorporation of semiconductor or carbonaceous composites. Key knowledge gaps are identified, such as the absence of standardized activity metrics and quantum efficiency reporting, limited durability and selectivity in complex water matrices, challenges in scalable synthesis with controlled electronic structure, and incomplete mechanistic understanding of charge-carrier dynamics. The review concludes by outlining design guidelines and research directions for the practical application of MOF-based photocatalysis in AOPs.
Rani et al. (Sat,) studied this question.