One stone two birds: Ce/Fe bimetallic MOF-derived mesoporous carbons for sustainable fluoride assay and scavenging

Efficient monitoring and controlling the fluoride content is of paramount significance for human health owing to the double-edged sword characteristic. Herein, a novel dual-functional Ce/Fe bimetallic MOF-derived mesoporous carbon (Ce/Fe@C) is engineered through competitive coordination polymerization and calcination for the selective detection and adsorption of fluoride. Attributed to unique oxygen vacancies, Ce/Fe@C could productively capture fluoride by forming specific Ce/Fe–F and C–F bonds, affording a high adsorption capacity of 146.57 mg g −1 . Harnessing the fluoride complex-mediated blocking of active sites promotes the deterioration of peroxidase-mimicking activity of Ce/Fe@C, facilitating the sensitive colorimetric detection of fluoride with a limit detection of 0.245 μmol L −1 . Most importantly, facile magnetic separation of Ce/Fe@C not only simplifies the operation for fluoride treatment but also improves the detection accuracy via background interference elimination, as well as excellent reusability. As functional nanozyme and adsorbent, Ce/Fe@C is successfully utilized for the specific detection and scavenging of fluoride in various complicated samples. This work furnishes a reliable “two in one” platform for alleviating fluoride contaminant stress and highlights the tremendous prospects of versatile bimetallic MOF-derived carbons for food analysis and environmental remediation.