Robust MOF film of self-rearranged UiO-66-NO2 anchored on gelatin hydrogel via simple thermal-treatment for efficient Pb(II) removal in water and apple juice

Pb(II), a highly toxic heavy metals that targets the human nervous system, has contaminated water and food in recent years. The nanomaterial of Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) possesses superior removal performances. However, their practical application is limited by their nature of fine powdery. Herein, we developed robust MOFs film without the adding of polymer in MOFs ink and the modification of the substrate, which was achieved by choosing appropriate substrate of gelatin hydrogel with functional groups and simple thermal-treatment after coating UiO-66-NO2 onto gelatin hydrogel. The volatilization of the UiO-66-NO2 dispersant ethyl acetate promotes the rearrangement and dense accumulation of UiO-66-NO2 crystals to form a dense UiO-66-NO2 film. During the following thermal-treatment process, -COOH of UiO-66-NO2 and -NH2 of gelatin chemically reacted to establish the stable composites of UiO-66-NO2 film and gelatin hydrogel. The results of batch adsorption experiments demonstrate that adsorption behaviors of the as-synthesized gelatin/UiO-66-NO2 film composite hydrogels can be explained by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, stating that this adsorption process involves with a chemical monolayer adsorption. Besides, gelatin/UiO-66-NO2 film composite hydrogels own satisfactory removal efficiency for Pb(II) in apple juice, and the adsorption process has little impairment on the quality of apple juice. These results suggest that MOFs film is suitable for water decontamination and food safety control fields.

Automated summary

A robust MOFs film for removing Pb(II) from water and food was developed by selecting appropriate substrate and conducting simple thermal treatment. The gelatin/UiO-66-NO2 film composite hydrogel showed satisfactory removal efficiency for Pb(II) in apple juice without affecting its quality, suggesting its potential application in water decontamination and food safety control fields.