Metal-organic frameworks and plastic: an emerging synergic partnership

Mismanagement of plastic waste results in its ubiquitous presence in the environment. Despite being durable and persistent materials, plastics are reduced by weathering phenomena into debris with a particle size down to nanometers. The fate and ecotoxicological effects of these solid micropollutants are not fully understood yet, but they are raising increasing concerns for the environment and people’s health. Even if different current technologies have the potential to remove plastic particles, the efficiency of these processes is modest, especially for nanoparticles. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline nano-porous materials with unique properties, have unique properties, such as strong coordination bonds, large and robustus porous structures, high accessible surface areas and adsorption capacity, which make them suitable adsorbent materials for micropollutants. This review examines the preliminary results reported in literature indicating that MOFs are promising adsorbents for the removal of plastic particles from water, especially when MOFs are integrated in porous composite materials or membranes, where they are able to assure high removal efficiency, superior water flux and antifouling properties, even in the presence of other dissolved co-pollutants. Moreover, a recent trend for the alternative preparation of MOFs starting from plastic waste, especially polyethylene terephthalate, as a sustainable source of organic linkers is also reviewed, as it represents a promising route for mitigating the impact of the costs deriving from the widescale MOFs production and application. This connubial between MOFs and plastic has the potential to contribute at implementing a more effective waste management and the circular economy principles in the polymer life cycle.