Sustainable Metal‐organic Frameworks

Sustainability denotes the capacity to fulfill current requirements without affecting the ability of future generations to satisfy their own demands. It entails a balance among economic development, environmental sustainability, and social equality. Sustainable chemistry emphasizes the design of chemical processes and products that minimize or eradicate the utilization and production of harmful compounds. The fundamental principles of sustainable chemistry encompass waste prevention, atom economy, the utilization of safer chemicals, the employment of renewable feedstocks, energy efficiency, green solvents, and life cycle evaluation. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an interesting class of porous crystalline materials composed of clusters that are metallic in addition to organic linkers. Compared to different materials, MOFs possess specific functionalities including elevated surface area, uniform opened cavities, and high porosity with diverse forms and dimensions. MOFs have been extensively utilized in methane and hydrogen storage, biological imaging catalysis, sensing, desalination, gas separation, drug delivery, magnetic and electronic devices, nonlinear optics, and water vapor capture. Achievement of MOFs’ sustainability depends on using an eco-friendly synthesis and biodegradable components, recycling and upcycling of MOFs. In this chapter, green synthesis of MOFs will be discussed including synthesis of MOFs from waste, characterization of sustainable MOFs, recycling, and upcycling.