Grafting a Porous Metal-Organic Framework [NH2-MIL-101(Fe)] with AgCl Nanoparticles for the Efficient Removal of Congo Red

Abstract

Organic dyes can produce harmful effects on the water environment, such as affecting the growth of aquatic organisms, reducing the transparency of water bodies, and causing eutrophication of water bodies, so it is necessary to mitigate the hazards of organic dyes. In this study, a metal-organic framework [NH2-MIL-101(Fe)] was synthesized by the solvothermal method as a carrier for the in situ uniform deposition of AgCl nanoparticles on its surface, which was successfully used for both adsorption and degradation of Congo red. Adsorption results showed that the adsorption kinetics conformed to the proposed secondary adsorption kinetics equation with a maximum adsorption capacity of 248.4 mg·g-1. Furthermore, the degradation results indicated that with the aid of sodium borohydride as a reducing agent, the degradation of Congo red followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with a degradation rate of 0.077 min-1, and the complete degradation of Congo red was finished within 18 min. Therefore, AgCl/NH2-MIL-101(Fe) may find a potential application in the removal of dyes from wastewater.