Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology Advances in Environmental Technology 2476-6674 12 3 2026 07 01 Metal-organic framework based on iron doping: Green synthesis and sustainable adsorbent for anionic dye contaminated water 256 273 1671 10.22104/aet.2026.7493.2087 EN Reza Soleymani Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Bayramali Mohammadnezhad Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technical Engineering, Qom University of Technology (QUT), Qom, Iran Seyed Abbas Hosseini Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2025 10 13 Industrial effluents have emerged as a critical environmental challenge due to limited water resources, their toxic nature, and carcinogenic properties. Therefore, it is essential to treat industrial wastewater and eliminate toxic pollutants. This study focuses on synthesizing nanocrystals of zeolite imidazole frameworks (ZIF-8) by doping with iron to create a porous ZnFe/ZIF-8 (ZFZ) composite using a green method (water solvent) to enhance performance and synergistic effects. The morphology of ZFZ nanocrystals was analyzed using a variety of complementary characterization techniques (Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM)). The ZFZ and ZIF-8 were assessed for the removal of Direct Red 23 (DR-23) dye from wastewater by varying the effective variables (pH, dye dosage, initial concentration, an(d contact time). For comparative analysis, ZIF-8 was also synthesized and used in conjunction with ZFZ to remove the DR-23 dye. The results demonstrated that ZFZ possesses a significantly higher adsorption capacity (383 mg/g) for DR-23 than ZIF-8 (94.79 mg/g), representing a fourfold enhancement. At a contact time of 120 minutes, the ZFZ composite achieved a maximum removal efficiency of 92.3% with 0.006 g of adsorbent at pH 3. Analysis of the equilibrium adsorption data for anionic dyes confirmed a strong alignment with the Langmuir model (R² = 0.99), consistent with a homogeneous, monolayer adsorption process. Additionally, the adsorption mechanism on ZFZ and ZIF-8 composites followed second-order kinetics with R² = 0.99. These findings confirm that synthesized ZFZ is an efficient adsorbent for the remediation of dye-contaminated wastewater. https://aet.irost.ir/article_1671_b41c80d7930e60ce60bc244afc36d46d.pdf