Metal-organic framework templated inorganic sorbents for rapid and efficient extraction of heavy metals.

An innovative wet-treatment with Na2 S transforms two indium metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into a series of porous inorganic sorbents. These MOF-templated materials display remarkable affinity for heavy metals with saturation occurring in less than 1 h. The saturation capacity for Hg(II) exceeds 2 g g(-1) , more than doubling the best thiol-functionalized sorbents in the literature.