Functionalization effect of Fe-type MOF for methylene blue adsorption

Water pollutant such as dyes had danger the water quality. Todays, porous materials are great potential for dye adsorption from water bodies. In this study, the iron-based metal–organic framework (MOF-Fe) of MIL-101 is synthesized through a facile solvothermal method. The amine-functionalization effect of the MOF-Fe (amine-MOF-Fe) is evaluated for the adsorptive removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. The adsorption behaviour had shown a rapid MB adsorption within the first hour of the process due to the pore-filling mechanism of the porous MOF-Fe structure. The electrostatic interaction between the amino group of amine-MOF-Fe and MB had contributed to the high adsorption capacity. The amine-functionalization effect also found the amine-MOF-Fe is having two times higher adsorption capacity when used with the loading two times lower than non-functionalized MOF-Fe. The maximum equilibrium adsorption capacities were measured at 149.25 and 312.5 mg/g with optimum MOFs loading of 0.8 and 0.4 g/L for MOF-Fe and amine-MOF-Fe, respectively. The adsorption mechanism proposed includes the electrostatic interaction, pore filling, hydrogen bonding, and π–π stacking. The regeneration study showed the MOFs could be recycled without interfering with the removal efficiency. Hence, the results indicate that the MOFs had desirable reusability for the practical adsorption of cationic dyes with its features of fast adsorption and high capacity.