Copper-based conductive metal organic framework as an efficient Fenton-like catalyst for enhanced tetracycline degradation

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a promising Fenton-like catalyst for contaminant degradation, but the undesired electron and mass transfer capacities resulted by the inherent low conductivity and 3D interlaced pores of traditional MOFs limit their catalytic efficiency. To address the problems, we report an example of highly conjugated conductive MOFs (cMOFs)-based Fenton-like catalyst for tetracycline (TC) degradation. The as-synthesized copper-based cMOF, CuHITP, exhibits intrinsic high conductivity for promoting the electron transfer. The 1D vertical through-channels with relatively large diameter facilitates the mass transfer (e.g., TC adsorption). Together with the efficient Cu active sites that produce superoxide radicals (•O₂^–) as the primary oxidative species, CuHITP delivers significantly enhanced activity for TC degradation than traditional Cu-based MOFs including Cu-BDC and Cu-BTC. Except for high activity, the CuHITP-based Fenton-like catalytic system also shows excellent pH tolerance, robust resistance to anion interference and high stability. By further identifying the intermediate products, the possible TC degradation pathways over CuHITP are proposed. The low toxicity and biologically safety CuHITP-based Fenton-like catalytic system are evidently demonstrated by toxicity predictions and experiments. This work highlights the superiority of emerging cMOFs as high-performance Fenton-like catalysts for environmental remediation.