Ultra-small UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles immobilized on g-C3N4 nanosheets for enhanced catalytic activity

UiO-66-NH 2 , an important metal–organic framework, is usually synthesized by solvothermal method and the particle size is generally larger than 200 nm, which limits its catalytic applications in chemical reactions. It is very meaningful to produce UiO-66-NH 2 nanoparticles with ultra-small size, but remains challenging. Herein, we synthesized UiO-66-NH 2 nanoparticles in size of 8–15 nm that are immobilized on g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets. Compared with the UiO-66-NH 2 synthesized by the traditional solvothermal method (> 200 nm), the ultra-small UiO-66-NH 2 nanoparticles immobilized on g-C 3 N 4 have more unsaturated coordination positions and increased Lewis acidity. Owing to these combined advantages, the ultra-small UiO-66-NH 2 nanoparticles exhibit greatly improved catalytic activity for Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reaction than larger UiO-66-NH 2 particles.