Fe/Co-MOF Nanocatalysts: Greener Chemistry Approach for the Removal of Toxic Metals and Catalytic Applications

Fares T Alshorifi; Shady M El Dafrawy; Awad I Ahmed

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c01770

Fe/Co-MOF Nanocatalysts: Greener Chemistry Approach for the Removal of Toxic Metals and Catalytic Applications

ACS Omega. 2022 Jun 27;7(27):23421-23444. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c01770. eCollection 2022 Jul 12.

Authors

Fares T Alshorifi^{1

2}, Shady M El Dafrawy², Awad I Ahmed²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Sana'a University, Sana'a 15452, Yemen.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura 0020, Egypt.

Abstract

This study describes the preparation of new bimetallic (Fe/Co)-organic framework (Bi-MOF) nanocatalysts with different percentages of iron/cobalt for their use and reuse in adsorption, antibacterial, antioxidant, and catalytic applications following the principles of green chemistry. The prepared catalysts were characterized using several techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. These techniques proved the formation of MOFs, and the average crystallite sizes were 25.3-53.1, 27.6-67.2, 3.0-18.9, 3.0-12.9, and 3.0-23.6 nm for the Fe-MOF, Co-MOF, 10%Fe:90%Co-MOF, 50%Fe:50%Co-MOF, and 90%Fe:10%Co-MOF samples, respectively. The nanoscale (Fe/Co) Bi-MOF catalysts as efficient heterogeneous solid catalysts showed high catalytic activity with excellent yields and short reaction times in the catalytic reactions of quinoxaline and dibenzoxanthene compounds, in addition to their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Furthermore, the nanoscale (Fe/Co) Bi-MOF catalysts efficiently removed toxic metal pollutants (Pb²⁺, Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Cu²⁺) from aqueous solutions with high adsorption capacity.