Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Author Spotlight: Exploring Self-Assembled MOF-Polymer Composites
Published on: June 14, 2024
Rapid, Selective Extraction of Trace Amounts of Gold from Complex Water Mixtures with a Metal-Organic Framework
Daniel T Sun1, Natalia Gasilova1, Shuliang Yang1
1Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering , École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1950 Sion , Switzerland.
Abstract:
With the ever-increasing production of electronics, there is an ensuing need for gold extraction from sources other than virgin mines. Currently, there are no technologies reported to date that can effectively and selectively concentrate ultratrace amounts of gold from liquid sources. Here, we provide a blueprint for the design of several highly porous composites made up of a metal-organic framework (MOF) template and redox active, polymeric building blocks. One such composite, Fe-BTC/PpPDA, is shown to rapidly extract trace amounts of gold from several complex water mixtures that include wastewater, fresh water, ocean water, and solutions used to leach gold from electronic waste and sewage sludge ash. The material has an exceptional removal capacity, 934 mg gold/g of composite, and extracts gold from these complex mixtures at record-breaking rates, in as little as 2 min. Further, due to the high cyclability, we demonstrate that the composite can effectively concentrate gold and yield purities of 23.9 K.
Related Concept Videos
Polymers
Mixtures of Acids
A Mixture of a Strong Acid and a Weak Acid
In a mixture of a strong acid and a weak acid, the strong acid dissociates completely and becomes a source of almost all the hydronium ions...
Mixtures of Acids
In a strong and weak acid mixture, the strong acid dissociates completely and becomes a source of almost all the hydronium ions present in the solution. In contrast, the weak acid shows...
Classifying Matter by Composition
According to its composition, the matter can be classified into two broad categories — pure substances and mixtures.
A pure substance is a form of matter that has a constant composition throughout with uniform properties. For example, any sample of sucrose has the same composition and same physical properties, such as melting point, color, and sweetness, regardless of the source from which it is isolated.
A mixture is composed of two or...
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....

