Quinone-modified metal-organic frameworks MIL-101(Fe) as heterogeneous catalysts of persulfate activation for degradation of aqueous organic pollutants.

In this work, quinone-modified metal-organic framework MIL-101(Fe)(Q-MIL-101(Fe)), as a novel heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst, was synthesized for the activation of persulfate (PS) to remove bisphenol A (BPA). The synthetic Q-MIL-101(Fe) was characterized via X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As compared to the pure MIL-101(Fe), Q-MIL-101(Fe) displayed better catalytic activity and reusability. The results manifested that the Q-MIL-101(Fe) kept quinone units, which successfully promoted the redox cycling of Fe/Fe and enhanced the removal efficiency. In addition, the reaction factors of Q-MIL-101(Fe) were studied (e.g. pH, catalyst dosage, PS concentration and temperature), showing that the optimum conditions were [catalyst] = 0.2 g/L, [BPA] = 60 mg/L, [PS] = 4 mmol/L, pH = 6.79, temperature = 25 °C. On the basis of these findings, the probable mechanism on the heterogeneous activation of PS by Q-MIL-101(Fe) was proposed.