Catalytic metal–organic framework-melamine foam composite as an efficient material for the elimination of organic pollutants

Water-insoluble organic pollutants in environment, such as sea oil spill, industrial reagents, and the abused organic pesticides, bring great risks to global water systems, which thus requires effective approaches for organic pollutant elimination. In this study, we report a catalytic metal–organic framework (MOF)-melamine foam (MF) composite material (DDT-UiO-66-NH 2 @MF) showing excellent oil–water separation performance and enzyme-like degradation ability toward organophosphorus pesticides. The fabrication of DDT-UiO-66-NH 2 @MF is based on the immobilization of a MOF-derived nanozyme (UiO-66-NH 2 ) on MF sponge, and followed by the hydrophobic modification of UiO-66-NH 2 by 1-dodecanethiol (DDT). The obtained DDT-UiO-66-NH 2 @MF thus displayed superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic property with a high water contact angle (WCA = 144.6°) and specific adsorption capacity toward various oils/organic solvents (62.2–119.8 g/g), which leads to a continuous oil–water separation on a simple device. In the meanwhile, owing to the enzyme-like property of UiO-66-NH 2 , DDT-UiO-66-NH 2 @MF also displayed good ability to hydrolyze paraoxon under mild conditions, which facilitates the elimination of toxic pesticide residuals in water systems. This work provides a simple, efficient, and green approach for the separation and treatment of water-insoluble organic pollutants, as well as expands the use of MOFs-MF sponge composite materials in environmental sustainability.