Research Progress on the Water Stability of a Metal-Organic Framework in Advanced Oxidation Processes

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of organic-inorganic hybrid materials that are self-assembled metal clusters and organic ligands. Because MOFs have an ultrahigh surface area, a controllable size, and adjustable chemical properties, which are not available in other porous materials, it has broad application potential in chemical sensing, gas storage, and catalysis. However, the stability of MOFs in water is poor. The presence of water molecules changes the structures and properties of MOFs, which limits their industrial application in advanced oxidation process. In this paper, the definition of water stability is introduced in detail, and the damage mechanism of water molecules on MOFs is analyzed from the perspective of thermodynamic stability and kinetic stability. According to varying factors that affect MOFs’ water stability, corresponding methods to improve MOFs water stability are proposed, and research trends on the stability of MOFs in water are speculated.