Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) Materials in Separation Science and Technology
A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials in Separation Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 219
Special Issue Editors
Interests: separation sciences and related technologies; wastewater/water treatment; membrane fouling; aerobic/anaerobic digestion; recovery/removal of metals from liquid waste streams; physicochemical methods for the treatment of contaminated water sources or wastewaters, biological/aerobic or anaerobic treatment methods; combinations of biological and physicochemical methods; treatment/recycling issues of toxic industrial solid wastes; hydrometallurgical aspects; physico-chemical (solidification/stabilization); thermal (vitrification) or appropriate combinations of treatment processes; carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS); green chemistry and technology; circular bio/economy; resource recovery from wastes (phosphates, etc.)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: wastewater treatment; municipal, industrial and hazardous wastewater treatment technologies (coagulation/flocculation, adsorption, ozonation, membrane bioreactors); recovery of nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) from wastewater; removal of ions, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and dyes from water and wastewater
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue highlights the recent progress in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based materials for different separation aspects, with particular emphasis on liquid–solid separations, aimed at the efficient removal (or recovery options, if possible) of heavy/toxic metals, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, etc. from aqueous environments. Water contamination by toxic metal ions and emerging organic pollutants poses serious risks to ecosystems and human health, driving the urgent need for advanced, selective and reusable separation materials.
MOFs have emerged as highly promising candidates for liquid-phase separations, due to their large surface areas, tunable pore architectures and chemically functionalizable frameworks. The articles that are welcome in this Special Issue are proposed to demonstrate how tailored structures and MOF composites can enable high adsorption capacities, fast kinetics and strong selectivity against pollutants, usually present as mixtures, such as Pb2+, Hg2+, Cd2+, Cr(VI), As(III) as well as pharmaceutical residues and antibiotic substances. Special attention is given to the role of functional groups, metal nodes and framework stability in aqueous and complex water matrices.
The potential contributions also can address practical considerations, including regeneration, recyclability and performance under real-world conditions. Advances in MOF-based beads, membranes and hybrid materials further illustrate alternative strategies to improve processability and scalability for water and watsewater treatment applications. Collectively, this Special Issue provides a focused overview of current developments and future perspectives on MOF-enabled separations, underscoring their potential to deliver efficient and sustainable solutions for water and wastewater purification and environmental remediation and possibly for resource recovery options.
Prof. Dr. Anastasios I. Zouboulis
Dr. Athanasia K. Tolkou
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Separations is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)
- liquid–solid separation
- water treatment
- wastewater treatment
- heavy metal removal
- pharmaceutical contaminants
- antibiotics removal
- emerging pollutants
- MOF-based membranes
- regeneration and reusability
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