MOFs decorated sugarcane catalytic filter for water purification

Developing high-performance catalytic filter with both high removal efficiency and ultra-high flux, especially under gravity-driven conditions, is of great significance yet still a fundamental challenge in organic wastewater purification. Herein, a high-efficiency gravity-driven catalytic filter, ZIF-67 decorated sugarcane that is denoted as ZIF-67@SC sponge, is successfully constructed by the in-situ growing ZIF-67 nanoparticles inside the channels of biomass sugarcane skeleton. Pretreatment of cellulose fibers with alkali can set the nucleation sites for the ZIF-67 nanocrystals decoration on the sugarcane skeleton, which originates from the ion exchange between Co²⁺ and Na⁺. The effect of the perforated plate structures of sugarcane on fluid obstruction and the widely distributed ZIF-67 nanoparticles can synergistically enhance the contraction between organic pollutants and ZIF-67 nanoparticles. The resultant ZIF-67@SC sponge therefore exhibits the superior removal efficiency up to 86.99 % for methylene blue (MB) in water with the water treatment flux of ∼ 2720 L m^-2h⁻¹ under the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Importantly, the ZIF-67@SC sponge catalytic filter can be readily regenerated by a simple methanol washing, maintaining the removal efficiency of 82.09 % after even 10 continuous regeneration cycles. Furthermore, the ZIF-67@SC sponge catalytic filter can be facilely engineer as a continuous-flow catalytic reactor like a water purifier for high throughout wastewater purification. It's believed that relying on the outstanding catalytic performance of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and the unique skeletons of sugarcane and other biomass materials, the present outcomes can be promising by extended to the large-scale water remediation.