Nano‐Springe Enriched Hierarchical Porous MOP/COF Hybrid Aerogel: Efficient Recovery of Gold from Electronic Waste

Abstract Extraction of gold from secondary resources such as electronic waste (e‐waste) has become crucial in recent times to compensate for the gradual scarcity of the noble metal in natural mines. However, designing and synthesizing a suitable material for highly efficient gold recovery is still a great challenge. Herein, we have strategically designed rapid fabrication of an ionic crystalline hybrid aerogel by covalent threading of an amino‐functionalized metal‐organic polyhedra with an imine‐linked chemically stable covalent organic framework at ambient condition. The hierarchically porous ultra‐light aerogel featuring imine‐rich backbone, high surface area, and cationic sites have shown fast removal, high uptake capacity (2349 mg/g), and excellent selectivity towards gold sequestration. Besides, the aerogel can extract ultra‐trace gold‐ions from different terrestrial water bodies, aiming towards safe drinking water. This study demonstrates the great potential of the composite materials based on a novel approach to designing a hybrid porous material for efficient gold recovery from complex water matrices.