Defective iron based metal-organic frameworks derived from zero-valent iron for highly efficient fenton-like...

Introducing crystal defects into iron based metal-organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) is regarded as a promising strategy to enhance Fenton-like performance. However, developing a facile and effective strategy to construct defective Fe-MOFs as highly efficient Fenton-like catalyst is still a challenge. Herein, MIL-100(Fe) (Def-MIL-100(Fe)) with missing ligands defects was synthesized by a simple heterogeneous reaction using zero-valent iron. The bisphenol A degradation efficiency in the Def-MIL-100(Fe)/H₂O₂ system reached up to 91.26% within 10 min at pH 4 with a low catalyst dosage of 0.05 g/L, while the perfect MIL-100(Fe) has almost no Fenton-like performance. It was observed that missing ligands defects in the Def-MIL-100(Fe) play a key role in the Fenton-like reaction. The missing ligands defects could increase the Lewis acidity for fast H₂O₂ adsorption and accelerate the electron transfer between Fe^II and Fe^III cycling, leading to faster and more·OH generation. Moreover, the missing ligands defects could promote the mass transfer for improving·OH utilization efficiency. This work provides a novel strategy to construct defective Fe-MOFs as highly efficient Fenton-like catalyst to degrade organic pollutants in water.