Recent advances in metal-organic framework membranes for water treatment: A review

Highlights: • The developmental timeline of MOFs-containing membranes for water treatment are summarized. • The synthesis strategies of various MOFs-containing membranes are introduced. • The removal performances of MOFs-containing membranes for various pollutants are determined. • The mechanisms mainly ascribe to size-exclusion, π-π stacking interaction, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding. • Multi-factor influences demonstrate the practical application potential of MOFs-containing membranes. Among many separation membranes reported to date, the favorable polymer affinity and unique physio-chemical performances of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) including ultra-high surface area, regular and highly controlled porosity have drawn widespread attention in industrial and academic communities. In this comprehensive review, the developmental timeline of MOF containing membranes for water treatment were clarified. The removal efficiencies, elimination mechanisms, as well as possible influencing factors of various MOF containing membranes that applied to water treatment were systematically summarized. The excellent removal performances of MOF containing membranes for various pollutants were determined by the size-exclusion, π-π stacking interaction, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding and so on. Since the progress of engineered MOF containing membranes for practical wastewater treatment applications lags, we further analyzed the potential environmental application of MOF containing membranes from four aspects (stability of MOFs, antifouling performance of membranes, compatibility between MOF fillers and polymer matrix, dispersity of MOF nanoparticles in matrix), hoping to provide some meaningful insights.