LDH Nanoflower Lantern Derived from ZIF-67 and Its Application for Adsorptive Removal of Organics from Water

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are commonly used as adsorbents in the treatment of pollutants in water or air but with low adsorptive capacities. The LDH nanoflower lantern was fabricated using zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) nanocrystal as the template. The LDH nanoflower lantern has a hierarchically porous structure, with specific surface area of 214.28 m2 g–1 and pore diameters distributed in the range of 4.2–159.3 nm. Organic dyes in solution including Congo red (CR) and Rhodamine B (RhB) can be removed quickly, and the removal efficiencies approached 99.27% and 78.61%, respectively. The adsorption capacities of CR and RhB were determined to be 328.77 and 112.35 mg g–1. The as-prepared LDH nanoflower lantern showed high cyclic stability, can be fast regenerated in ethanol at 80 °C, and was considered promising for wide applications.