Activated carbon/MOFs composite: AC/NH2-MIL-101(Cr), synthesis and application in high performance adsorption of p-nitrophenol

P-nitrophenol (PNP), a hazardous phenolic material, should be eliminated from water in order to prevent damage to the marine ecosystem, animals as well as humans. Although adsorption seems to become the most widely used strategy, an effective and strong-capacity adsorbent to minimize PNP under the approved concentration is essential to discovering. In this study, a class of porous adsorbents composite was developed for the PNP removal from water. AC-NH2-MIL-101(Cr) has chosen to boost the removal of PNP from water owing to extremely porous and stable in water. The fabricated composite has 2049 m2.g−1 large surface area and 0.93 cm3.g−1 pore volume. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms were investigated. AC-NH2-MIL-101(Cr) was found to exhibit an adsorption capacity of ~ 18.3 mg g−1. The mechanism for this strong adsorption performance was suggested and related to affinity NO2 groups of PNP and the unsaturated chromium site of AC-NH2-MIL-101(Cr), the coulombic interaction via the hydrogen bond between the PNP and AC-NH2-MIL-101(Cr) and π-π stacking interaction. AC-NH2-MIL-101(Cr) composite also displayed exceptional stability and reusability after a successive PNP removal processes. This study provides new insight into developing and synthesizing extremely effective nanoporous material for organic contaminants disinfection from waste water based on MOFs.