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Adsorptive removal of uremic toxins using Zr-based MOFs for potential hemodialysis membranes

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Abstract

Protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs) are difficult to remove through dialytic procedures, and the accumulation of PBUTs is always associated with adverse symptoms in end-stage kidney disease. Hemoperfusions and novel membranes have been developed for the removal of PBUTs, but still suffer from low efficiency. Herein, we investigated the adsorption performance of three zirconium metal–organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs: UiO-66, UiO-66-SO3H, and UiO-66-(COOH)2) for two typical PBUTs (indoxyl sulfate, IS; hippuric acid, HA). We found that Zr-MOFs could adsorb PBUTs efficiently with a capacity of as high as 49.5 mg g−1 for IS and 38.3 mg g−1 for HA, respectively, due to the van der Waals interactions, Coulomb interactions, and π–π interactions. Density functional theory simulations demonstrated that H-bonding on basis of the –SO3H and –COOH groups could endow MOFs with better absorptivity. Further, to expand to practical hemodialysis applications, we incorporated Zr-MOFs into a polylactide (PLA) matrix to fabricate MOFs-based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). The MMMs showed excellent in vitro biocompatibility and high water flux up to 260 L m−2 h−1. Under static conditions, the MMMs could remove HA and IS with a percentage of 75 and 78% in 4 h, respectively, whereas PLA membrane removed 12% of HA and 13% of IS. Under dynamic conditions, MMMs could remove 57% of IS and 54% of HA in 30 min; by contrast, PLA membrane only removed 2.9% of IS and 2.2% of HA. These MOFs-based MMMs with exceptional absorptivity, high water flux, and good biocompatibility might show great prospects in the foreground for the application of safe and efficient blood purification.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 31870994, U1904206, 21975209, 21673197, and 51706191), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0209500), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 20720190037), and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (Grant No. 2018J06003).

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  1. Sen Zeng and Yaqi Hou have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Fujian Province, Department of Biomaterials, Research Center of Biomedical Engineering of **amen, College of Materials, **amen University, 422 Siming Nan Road, **amen, 361005, People’s Republic of China

    Sen Zeng, Yaming Zhou, ** Zhou, Shefang Ye, Miao Wang & Lei Ren

  2. State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, **amen University, **amen, 361005, People’s Republic of China

    Yaqi Hou & Lei Ren

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  1. Sen Zeng
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Zeng, S., Hou, Y., Zhou, Y. et al. Adsorptive removal of uremic toxins using Zr-based MOFs for potential hemodialysis membranes. J Mater Sci 57, 2909–2923 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06783-4

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