Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Materials for Removal of Dye Pollution from Water 

Globally, humanity is faced with a shortage of clean drinking water. Even in North America, our water tables are filled with various containments, ranging anywhere from lead and pesticides to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and anthropogenic containments. While many research teams have been able to make filters to accomplish partial removal of select chemical species, an efficient, cheap, and reusable method to remove all contaminants from water has yet to be discovered. In this project, we have prepared zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), a subclass of porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) made from organic linkers and metal nodes, to apply to the removal of dye pollution in water samples. The structure of the ZIFs, like a steel building frame where the joints are the metal nodes and the beams are the organic linkers, is very tunable. This creates an exciting opportunity to design materials that have high potential for reusability and are specific to target pollutants of interest. Congo Red dye was chosen as our model pollutant in this starting work. We have found that the uptake of this dye into the framework material is pH sensitive and using UV-Vis spectroscopy, we show that ZIF-8 is an excellent adsorber of this contaminant. This work represents the beginning of a long-term research goal to develop novel ZIF materials and to tailor their properties (surface area, porosity, functionality, stability, etc.) to uptake pollutants of various classes.