Controlled Synthesis of Porous Hierarchical ZnFe2O4 Micro-/Nanostructures with Multifunctional Photocatalytic Performance

Engineering semiconductors with porous hierarchical micro-/nanostructures is a feasible strategy to obtain high solar-light utilization efficiency and strong photocatalytic performance. In this work, an integrated strategy of solvent evaporation and morphology-inherited annealing for the Fe-based metal–organic framework was developed to prepare the hierarchical spinel zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) micro-/nanostructure. The morphology and porosity of the hierarchical ZnFe2O4 structures can be adjusted by optimizing the annealing temperatures. Benefitting from magnetic separation performance, these highly visible light-responsive hierarchical ZnFe2O4 micro-/nanostructures are demonstrated to be multifunctional photocatalytic materials, and their photocatalytic activity and reproducibility were analyzed, and the photocatalytic mechanism was also investigated. This work provides a controlled and generic route for constructing novel hierarchical semiconductors with specific compositions and intriguing structures.