A facile acid-etching defect-rich leaf-like zeolitic-imidazolate framework adsorbent for simultaneous removal of organic/inorganic phosphorus pollutants from wastewater

Organophosphorus herbicide glyphosate and inorganic phosphate usually coexist in wastewater, leading to water eutrophication and posing risks to human health. In this study, acid-etching defect-rich leaf-like zeolitic-imidazolate framework (ae-ZIF-L) adsorbent was developed by a facile etching method to investigate its simultaneous removal performance of glyphosate and phosphate. Compared to ZIF-L precursor, ae-ZIF-L displayed a maximum adsorption capacity for phosphate and glyphosate of 164.4 mg g–1 and 12.7 mg g–1, respectively. The overall enhanced adsorption performance of ae-ZIF-L was primarily attributed to abundant Zn defects, resulting in higher positive zeta potentials to enhance electrostatic attraction. Notably, in the phosphate/glyphosate coexistence system, ae-ZIF-L has extremely high removal rates of 99.1 % and 90.9 %, while ZIF-L has removal rates of 97.7 % and 39.4 %, respectively. Furthermore, after four adsorption-desorption cycles, the removal rates of phosphate/glyphosate by ae-ZIF-L remained at 84.8 % and 82.5 %, respectively. In conclusion, ae-ZIF-L proved to be an efficient and reusable adsorbent with promising application for the treatment of organic/inorganic phosphorus pollution in wastewater. [Display omitted] •Rich Zn-defects were created by a facile acid etching method.•Ae-ZIF-L exhibited a fast diffusion rate of 0.81 mg g−1 min−1/2.•>90 % P-removal were observed in phosphate and glyphosate coexistence system.•83 % glyphosate adsorption capacity were retained after four cycles.