Metal–Organic Frameworks/Covalent–Organic Frameworks-Based Materials in Organic/inorganic Pollutant Elimination and CO2 Reduction Applications

Abstract

With the fast development of the economy, agriculture, and industry, and high quality of human life, the requirement of energy supply and subsequently the resulting environmental pollution have been the global research hotspot. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) have received multidisciplinary research interests because of their outstanding physicochemical properties. The tunable structures, active sites, special functional groups, and post-modification with single atoms, metal oxides, or functional groups, can be efficiently utilized for special purposes. In this mini-review, the applications of COFs, MOFs, and their derivatives in organic/inorganic pollutants elimination and CO₂ reduction in the last 5 years are summarized. The mechanisms are described and discussed from the experimental results, advanced spectroscopic characterizations, and theoretical calculations. The results show that COFs, MOFs, and their derivatives exhibit excellent properties in CO₂ reduction reactions and environmental pollutant treatment through sorption, photocatalysis, and electrocatalysis strategies. In the end, the challenges, difficulties, and perspectives for COFs, MOFs, and COF/MOF-based materials for real applications on a large scale are summarized.