Metal-organic framework-pesticide interactions in water: Present and future perspectives on monitoring, remediation and molecular simulation

Aggravated use of pesticides to intensify production and their transmigration to the aquatic environments jeopardises mother earth's ecological balance. To overcome this menace, the search for better and more efficient technologies for pesticides removal is still rambling on. In this regard, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been found promising owing to their hybrid property, tunable size, greater surface area, multidimensional porosity, and functional effectiveness. With a steadily growing interest in the application of MOFs in the plethora of environmental and biomedical fields, this article takes the lead by providing a detailed depiction of the synthesis and structural variation of the frameworks, potential application of pristine, surface functionalized and composite MOFs for sensing, monitoring and removal of pesticides from water using combination of Grand Canonical Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics (GCMC & MD) simulation models. It also highlights the recent advances in the field, mechanistic insights of adsorption, followed by the directions for future research.

Automated summary

The excessive use of pesticides and their migration to aquatic environments pose a threat to the ecological balance of the earth. To address this issue, the search for better technologies for pesticides removal is ongoing. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising materials with their hybrid property, tunable size, greater surface area, and multidimensional porosity. This article provides a detailed description of the synthesis and structural variation of MOFs, their potential applications in sensing, monitoring, and removing pesticides from water, and the recent advances in the field.