A novel self-assembled ZIF-67 hollow prisms for high-efficient simultaneous removal of ciprofloxacin and lead

Abstract

Due to the wide variety of pollutants in wastewater, therefore, how to efficiently and effectively remove mixed pollutants is of great importance for environmental remediation. In this study, ZIF-67 hollow prisms self-assembled by nanoparticles were prepared. The nanoparticles possess a regular distributed pore structure, which mixed with the self-assembled hierarchical structure can provide more binding sites. This special self-assembly structure endows ZIF-67 hollow prisms to have a large specific surface area (1221 m2/g), and to exhibit excellent efficiency in removing a variety of pharmaceuticals. For simultaneous removal of ciprofloxacin and Pb(II) mixed pollutants, the adsorption process of Pb(II) is ultra-fast (<2 min), and the average amount removed efficiently was 100 %. The maximum adsorption capacities of ciprofloxacin (CIP) and Pb(II) were 1586.14 and 2488.14 mg g−1, respectively. The XPS results indicated that Pb(II) may be mixed with Co-OH to form Co-O-Pb during the adsorption process. As well, metal ions are easily complexed with antibiotics, which makes the adsorption performance of CIP and Pb remarkable. This study explored the adsorption capacity by porous materials with self-assembled structures, and provided a novel strategy for the efficient removal of antibiotic/heavy metal complex pollutants from the environment.