Bottom-up synthesis of MOF-derived magnetic Fe-Ce bimetal oxide with ultrahigh phosphate adsorption performance

The intrinsic properties of metal-based adsorbents originate from multiples factors such as surface functional groups, electronic and dimensional structures. However, the synthetic strategies are limited to top-down methods, which inhibited the improvement of adsorbent performance. Herein, Fe-Ce bimetal oxide composites are prepared by a bottom-up modified MOF template method. MOF template-directed nano rod-like morphology can expose more active sites and facilitate phosphate access to active sites. The introduction of citric acid effectively increased the amount of surface -OH groups and greatly improved the phosphate adsorption capacity. Furthermore, the Fe dopant enables the high Ce(III) fraction and generate magnetic property for Fe-Ce bimetal oxide composites, which are capable of enhancing the intrinsic phosphate adsorption performance. The results show that the optimized Fe-Ce bimetal adsorbent showed remarkably high phosphate adsorption capacity, achieving a maximum phosphate adsorption capacity of 357 mg g(-1) by Langmuir model. High adsorption capacity and high magnetic separation efficiency characteristics make this adsorbent a promising material for phosphate treatment. The above results further prove the effectiveness of the bottom-up strategy in the design process of environmental functional materials.

Automated summary

In this study, Fe-Ce bimetal oxide composites were synthesized using a bottom-up modified MOF template method, which exhibited highly efficient adsorption of phosphate. The optimized adsorbent showed high adsorption capacity and magnetic separation efficiency, making it a promising material for phosphate treatment.