Metal-organic frameworks from renewable precursors: Sustainable solutions for clean water and CO2 capture

S Omrani and M Ghasemi and HL Tan and QV Thi and V Niasar and VX Truong, SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES, 45, e01592 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.susmat.2025.e01592

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have garnered increasing attention for their exceptional tunability, high surface area, and selective adsorption capabilities, making them prime candidates for addressing critical environmental and energy-related challenges. As the field moves toward industrial implementation, efforts to align MOF synthesis with principles of green chemistry and the circular economy have intensified. This review focuses on environmentally benign synthesis strategies, and MOFs synthesized from renewable precursors, namely nucleobases, saccharides, organic acids and phenols, amino acids, peptides, and proteins, and porphyrins, highlighting their potential in three key application domains: CO2 capture, atmospheric water harvesting (AWH), and aqueous pollutant removal. In addition, the role of computational modelling, specifically density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD), and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations, is discussed as a key approach for investigating host-guest interactions and predicting the adsorption behavior of MOFs. By combining experimental findings with molecular-level understanding, this review seeks to direct future research toward the sustainable design and application of MOFs to address pressing global challenges, including clean water shortage and global warming.

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