Bio-inspired porous adsorbents with lotus-leaf-like hierarchical structures and mussel adhesive surfaces for high-capacity removal of toxic dyes.

Basic dyes are highly toxic and have adverse effects on humans such as accelerated heart rate, shock, cyanosis, and tissue necrosis upon ingestion or skin contact. Efficient removal of basic dye pollutants from wastewater is therefore essential for the protection of the environment and human health. Biomolecules exhibit excellent dye removal performance in terms of removal capacity, selectivity, and rate. However, their poor thermal/chemical stability precludes their large-scale industrial applications. Herein, porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) were utilized for the biomimetic construction of mussel, which included two unique features: (1) multistage pore structures for the rapid transport of dye contaminants and (2) mussel-inspired adhesive surfaces for cationic dye removal. Accordingly, the solid PAFs exhibited a record adsorption capacity of 7300 mg g-1 and ultrahigh adsorption rates for cationic dye (safranine T) (188.78 mg g-1 min-1 in the first 20 min). Notably, the bionic adsorbent system exhibited outstanding dye removal performance under various conditions such as after multiple reuse cycles, acid/alkali environments, presence of multiple anions, and in different water bodies (e.g., seawater, lake water, rainwater, and sanitary wastewater). This demonstrates the broad adaptability of the system and its ability to effectively deal with dye contamination in a variety of environments.