Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4/metal-organic framework composite

Metal-organic-frameworks are good photocatalyst candidates due to their high surface area and semiconductor behavior, however the direct application of single-component MOFs is limited by their poor electronic conductivity and high combination rate of the photogenerated charge carriers. Meanwhile, silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) is a new emerging promising visible light photocatalyst but suffers from low stability. A promising strategy to overcome the shortcomings is to construct the nanocomposite photocatalysts. Herein, we report a rare example of a novel visible light active Ag3PO4/Fe-MIL-88-NH2 nanocomposite material. The resulting nanocomposite material shows improved RhB photodegradation catalytic efficiency than individual MOF and Ag3PO4 single components. Moreover, the Ag3PO4/Fe-MIL-88-NH2 nanocomposite material demonstrates good stability. The mechanism of the photocatalytic RhB degradation was investigated by introducing different scavengers to compete for the possible reactive species involved in the degradation process. The present study highlighted the very promise of constructing the Ag3PO4/MOF nanocomposite materials for efficient organic pollutants degradation in waste water. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.