ZIF-8 decorated wood sponge derived from biomimetic mineralization of polydopamine and its adsorption toward toluene in aqueous

Zeolitic-imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) are extensively researched and availed owing to their exclusive structural and excellent physicochemical properties while significant challenges of alleviating adverse effects of their particle form in many aspects are still facing scientific community. In this study, in situ growth of ZIF-8 within the pore channels and surfaces of green cellulose-based wood sponge was attempted through polydopamine mediated incubation. The wood sponge was prepared derived from eliminating lignin and hemicellulose from natural balsa wood. And then the sponge was impregnated into dopamine aqueous solution to yield polydopamine covered wood sponge. ZIF-8 crystals were ultimately in situ grew in substrate after sequentially impregnating in zinc nitrate hexahydrate and 2-methylimidazole aqueous solution at room temperature. Additional, the effect of deposition concentration of dopamine aqueous solution and ZIF-8 incubation time were investigated. The obtained ZIF-8@PWS was characterized using FTIR, SEM, XRD, BET and TGA. Finally, adsorption performance of porous ZIF-8@PWS toward toluene in aqueous solution was also briefly evaluated, and it demonstrated that maximum adsorption capacity was 106.4 mg.g −1 and the removal rate is as high as 94.2%. This work validates the envisioned universal protocol of preparing ZIF-8 decorated porous substrates via integrated mediate role of polydopamine.