In Situ Growth of ZIF-8 Nanocrystals on the Pore Walls of 3D Ordered Macroporous TiO2 for a One-Pot Cascade Reaction

It is wise to mimic a bioinspired system to design a nanoreactor as a catalyst containing multiple components for a cascade reaction. Here, we report the uniform growth of well-dispersed nano-scale ZIF-8 crystals on the pore walls of 3DOM TiO2via the TEA-assisted crystallization process. The UV-vis spectra indicate that the ZIF-8 photosensitizer can extend the visible-light absorption of 3DOM TiO2. The obtained nanoreactor can efficiently catalyze the one-pot aromatic alcohol oxidization and Knoevenagel condensation cascade reaction for larger molecules. This work offers an important strategy for preparing semiconductor–MOF multifunctional composites with a spatially separated compartmentation for the cascade reaction.Keywords:crystal growth;cascade reaction;nanoreactor;semiconductor–MOF composite