A sandwich-like heterostructure of TiO2 nanosheets with MIL-100(Fe): A platform for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysis

Hierarchical heterostructures with specific compositions, morphology and functionalities are important for applications in many fields such as catalysis, energy storage and conversion. Herein, hierarchical sandwich-like heterostructures were prepared by a self-assembly method of growing MIL-100(Fe) on host two dimensional (2D) TiO2 nanosheets (TiO2NS). The introduction of porous MIL-100(Fe) on TiO2NS improves the adsorption ability of nanocomposites owing to the porous tunnel adsorbing organic molecules and high surface area. In addition, the interfaces of TiO2NS and MIL-100(Fe) provide platforms for rapid photoexcited electrons transfer and enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2NS@MIL-100(Fe) nanocomposites. The resulting sandwich-like TiO2NS@MIL-100(Fe) nanocomposites with enhanced adsorption ability and superior separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs exhibited improved photoactivity toward degradation of methylene blue dye (MB) under visible light > 420nm). TiO2NS@MIL-100(Fe) nanocomposites offer an useful platform to integrate photocatalytic semiconductor and porous MOFs into hierarchical nanostructures with high surface areas and efficient electrons transfer for enhanced photocatalytic performance. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.