MOF/COF catalyst structure and multicomponent design: application in advanced oxidation processes for typical antibiotic wastewater treatment

Abstract

Environmental pollution caused by the extensive use and continuous discharge of antibiotics has attracted increasing attention. As typical emerging pollutants, antibiotics exhibit environmental persistence, biological toxicity, and the ability to promote the spread of antibiotic resistance. Traditional treatment technologies often fail to achieve their efficient removal and deep mineralization, creating an urgent need for efficient, green, and sustainable remediation strategies. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), which can generate highly reactive oxygen species in situ, have shown great potential for controlling refractory antibiotic pollution. In recent years, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as important material platforms for antibiotic remediation because of their high specific surface areas, regular pore structures, designable frameworks, and abundant active sites. The adjustable metal nodes, open metal sites, and mixed-valence centers in MOFs favor oxidant activation and interfacial electron transfer, whereas COFs, with ordered π-conjugated structures, donor–acceptor frameworks, and programmable microenvironments, show unique advantages in light absorption regulation, charge separation, and selective oxidation pathway construction. This review systematically summarizes the design, synthesis, and functionalization strategies of MOFs/COFs, and discusses their applications and mechanisms in AOPs, including Fenton/Fenton-like processes, photocatalysis, ozonation, peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation, electrocatalysis, and sonocatalysis. Finally, key challenges such as structural stability, metal leaching, real-water adaptability, intermediate toxicity, and engineering scale-up are discussed, together with perspectives on rational material design, in situ mechanism analysis, and fixed-bed reactor applications.