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[Display omitted] • The novel adsorbent of UiO-66-NH 2 @Mg(OH) 2 was prepared and characterized. • The adsorption capacity was improved significantly after modification. • Adsorption behavior and mechanism of phosphate on UNM were explored. • Multiwfn wave function methods were applied to interpret the adsorption mechanisms. • Phosphate was successfully recovered by the struvite-based method. Two serious challenges of water eutrophication and phosphorus resources exhaustion make the P recovery imperative. In this work, a novel phosphate adsorbent UiO-66-NH 2 @Mg(OH) 2 (UNM) has been synthesized by the in-situ growth of magnesium hydroxide nanosheets around UiO-66-NH 2. The batch adsorption experiments were carried out by controlling the single variate (such as pH, initial concentration, contact time, temperature and interfering anions) to explore the adsorption behaviors. And the adsorption dynamics and isotherms fit well with the pseudo-second-order (PSO) and Langmuir models, combined with the thermodynamics results, indicating a spontaneous and endothermic monolayer chemisorption process. Besides, the maximum phosphate adsorption capacity of UNM was calculated as 408.07 mg/g (≈130.39 mg P/g) at pH = 6.0, T = 298 K. A series of characterizations (XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDS, BET, TGA, XPS, ICP-MS et. al) and quantum chemical analysis methods (ESP, ALIE and Hirshfeld surface) was applied to predict the reactive sites. The possible mechanism can be deduced as two continuous steps: the physical attraction by weak interactions and the chemical adsorption with an ion-exchange mechanism. The UNM also presented high removal efficiency in the environmental water samples and showed satisfactory reusability and excellent chemical stability in the recycling process. From the desorption effluents, we successfully recycled the struvite with 14.31% P content. Therefore, the UNM will be regarded as a promising phosphate adsorbent in practice and this work will provide inspiration and guidance for the design and preparation of high-efficiency P-removal adsorbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Defect content and particle size of MOF-808 can be tuned using iron nitrate. • The modulating MOF-808 can achieve effective removal and recovery of phosphate. • Adsorption mechanisms involve electrostatic attractions and ligand exchange. In this work, a facile and green method is applied to synthesize hydrophilic MOF-808(Zr) and modulate its defect content and particle size using different amounts of iron nitrate (denoted as F) to obtain serial XF-MOF-808 ("X" implied the dosage of used F). The development of additional adsorption sites and the fine-tune of pore and particle size based on MOF-808 significantly improved phosphate adsorption performance. In particular, the 0.5F-MOF-808 shows excellent adsorption capacity (305.5 mg/g) and rapid diffusion rate (37.51 mg/g·min0.5) for phosphate at 298 K and initial pH = 6.5, outperforming pristine MOF-808 and most previously reported adsorbents. 0.5F-MOF-808 possesses a wide pH tolerance, outstanding reusability and excellent selectivity for phosphate adsorption from simulated wastewater, verified in environmental implication and regeneration experiments. Phosphate loaded on the adsorbent can be converted to struvite for agricultural fertilizer via a simple crystallization process. Compared to MOF-808, the exceptional sorption performance of 0.5F-MOF-808 is supported by decreased internal diffusion limitation, enlarged pore size and the development of new adsorption sites, which can be proved by advanced characterizations and batch adsorption experiments. This work presents a promising modification strategy of MOF materials for phosphate adsorption and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]