Recent advances in Cu-BTC MOF-based engineered materials for the photocatalytic treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater towards environmental remediation

Abstract

Water-borne emerging pollutants are among one of the serious issues facing modern society. As a result of the excessive consumption of drugs during the global COVID-19 pandemic, a huge number of pharmaceuticals and personal care products are widely dispersed into aqueous sources and may pose serious health issues to all life forms, besides destroying the ecosystem. Treatments of these toxic and persistent pharmaceutical contaminants in wastewater effluents have received widespread attention from researchers devoted to environmental remediation. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and their composites have been reported to be effective materials for such applications. This review is devoted to providing a brief outline by compiling the various advantageous features of Cu-BTC MOF, focusing on the synthesis, reactivity and its recent potential applications in the field of elimination of toxic pharmaceutical wastes and personal care products from wastewater effluents. Moreover, it documents the mechanistic pathway involved in the degradation mechanism and paints the various limitations and future research outlooks that may be helpful by considering the current scenario to fully comprehend and exploit the potentiality of this promising nanostructural framework.