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

UiO-66-NH2, 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-NH2 nanoparticles with ultra-small size, but remains challenging. Herein, we synthesized UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles in size of 8-15 nm that are immobilized on g-C3N4 nanosheets. Compared with the UiO-66-NH2 synthesized by the traditional solvothermal method (> 200 nm), the ultra-small UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles immobilized on g-C3N4 have more unsaturated coordination positions and increased Lewis acidity. Owing to these combined advantages, the ultra-small UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles exhibit greatly improved catalytic activity for Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reaction than larger UiO-66-NH2 particles. (C) 2020 Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Automated summary

In this study, ultra-small UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles with a size of 8-15 nm were successfully synthesized and found to have more unsaturated coordination positions and increased Lewis acidity. Compared to larger particles synthesized using traditional methods, these ultra-small nanoparticles exhibit improved catalytic activity in the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reaction.