Vapor Deposition-Prepared MIL-100(Cr)- and MIL-101(Cr)-Supported Iron Catalysts for Effectively Removing Organic Pollutants from Water

[Image: see text] Metal organic framework (MOF)-supported Fe catalysts belong to an important class of catalysts used for the advanced oxidation of organic pollutants in water. The successful preparation of the Fe/MIL-100(Cr) and Fe/MIL-101(Cr) catalysts in this work reinforced that a recently established carrier-gas free vapor deposition method can be a general one for preparing Fe/MOF catalysts. The Fe loading was in the range of 7.8–27.2 wt % on Fe/MIL-101(Cr) at a deposition temperature of 110–150 °C, and it was only 4.35 wt % on Fe/MIL-100(Cr) at 110 °C in comparison. The results obtained from the characterization using the N(2)-isotherm and EDX mapping showed that the Fe components resided uniformly within the pore of the MOF supports. Both of Fe/MIL-100(Cr) and Fe/MIL-101(Cr) were rather effective for the catalytic removal of aniline from water with Fenton oxidation. Fe/MIL-100(Cr) can effectively remove the total organic carbon (TOC) of the aniline solutions, while Fe/MIL-101(Cr) had a lower TOC removal efficiency. Both of the Fe/MIL-100(Cr) and Fe/MIL-101(Cr) catalysts showed good stability in the crystalline form compared to the previously prepared Fe/UiO-66 catalyst, implicating that they can be potentially more useful than Fe/UiO-66 for treating organic pollutants in water.