Ordered mesoporous materials for water pollution treatment: Adsorption and catalysis

To meet the growing emission of water contaminants, the development of new materials that enhance the efficiency of the water treatment system is urgent. Ordered mesoporous materials provide opportunities in environmental processing applications due to their exceptionally high surface areas, large pore sizes, and enough pore volumes. These properties might enhance the performance of materials concerning adsorption/catalysis capability, durability, and stability. In this review, we enumerate the ordered mesoporous materials as adsorbents/catalysts and their modifications in water pollution treatment from the past decade, including heavy metals (Hg²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺, Cr⁶⁺, etc.), toxic anions (nitrate, phosphate, fluoride, etc.), and organic contaminants (organic dyes, antibiotics, etc.). These contributions demonstrate a deep understanding of the synergistic effect between the incorporated framework and homogeneous active centers. Besides, the challenges and perspectives of the future developments of ordered mesoporous materials in wastewater treatment are proposed. This work provides a theoretical basis and complete summary for the application of ordered mesoporous materials in the removal of contaminants from aqueous solutions. © 2023 Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.