UiO-66 derived zirconia/porous carbon nanocomposites for efficient removal of carbamazepine and adsorption mechanism.

• ZrOx/porous carbon nanocomposites with tunable specific surface area and pore volume was prepared. • The regulatory mechanism of the specific surface area and pore volume was revealed. • The specific surface area of the nanocomposites reached to 468.9 m2 g−1. • The nanocomposites exhibited a high adsorption performance for the removal of carbamazepine. • The main adsorption interaction is the π-π electron donor-acceptor interaction. Nanoarchitecture design of metal oxides/porous carbon nanocomposites from metal-organic frameworks is attracting considerable attention. Herein, UiO-66 was used as precursor and template to fabricate zirconia/porous carbon nanocomposites with tunable specific surface area and pore volume by a two-step calcination. The results showed that the tetragonal ZrO 2 nanoparticles in carbon matrix gradually grow up and transform into monoclinic ZrO 2 and ZrO as well as escape from the porous carbon nanocubes resulting in the increase of their specific surface area and pore volume with the increase of calcination temperature. The as-prepared nanocomposites at 1200 °C (ZPCNCs-12) exhibited a high specific surface area up to 468.9 m2 g−1, and excellent adsorption performance with high adsorption capacity (190 mg g−1), fast adsorption equilibrium (60 min) and recyclability for the removal of carbamazepine from water in a wide pH range of 2–12. FTIR spectra suggested that the adsorption of carbamazepine on ZPCNCs-12 was physical, and XPS results further confirmed that the adsorption was mainly dominated by the π-π electron donor-acceptor interaction between carbamazepine molecule and carbon nanocubes. It indicates that the two-step calcination of metal-organic frameworks is an effective approach to fabricate highly efficient sorbent for the removal of organic pollutants from water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]