Metal nanoparticles decorated MIL-125-NH2 and MIL-125 for efficient photocatalysis

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) decorated MOFs for photocatalysis has drawn enormous attention in the past decade. Here, a series of M/Ti-MOFs (M = Pt and Au, Ti-MOFs = MIL-125-NH 2 and MIL-125) has been synthesized through a facile post-synthetic method and the metal NPs highly dispersed on surface of MOFs with major sizes of 3–9 nm. Light absorption edges of scaffolds are crucial in the photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol over M/MIL-125-NH 2 and M/MIL-125. The conversion of benzyl alcohol over Pt/MIL-125-NH 2 is 2.4 times and 1.9 times higher than that of pristine MIL-125-NH 2 and Au/MIL-125-NH 2 , respectively. Besides, Pt/MIL-125-NH 2 photocatalyst also exhibited good activity for Cr(VI) reduction compared to that of MIL-125-NH 2 . The enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pt/MIL-125-NH 2 is contributed to the rapid transfer of photo-induced electrons and decreased recombination of electron-hole pairs, which is verified by measurements of photocurrent and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. We hope that this study will provide worthy information for designing metal/MOFs or metal/MOFs-NH 2 photocatalysts.