Construction of a polyoxometalate-based magnetic composite MOF for the effective adsorption of cationic dyes

Abstract

Adsorption and separation of dyes are extremely important as they damage the water environment and human health. ZIF-8 has the benefits of large specific surface area, explicit structure and a good confinement effect on POM, which can better facilitate the synergetic effect of POM and ZIF-8. Therefore, ZIF-8 was chosen as the support material to wrap H₃PW₁₂O₄₀. In the present work, magnetic ZIF-8@H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ composites were prepared by a facile impregnation synthesis strategy and applied to the adsorption of cationic dyes with methylene blue (MB) as a representative. Compared with the other three prepared materials, Fe₃O₄@ZIF-8@H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ exhibited the best adsorption performance. The adsorption process conformed to the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir model, and the adsorption reaction was spontaneous with the maximum adsorption capacity of up to 431.03 mg g⁻¹ within 20 min. The electrostatic attraction has been testified to be the major driving force of the adsorption process, and the material can still hold 90% of the max adsorption capacity after 5 cycles, which serve as the foundation for its further applications in the field of adsorption.