Enhancing optical absorption of metal-organic frameworks for improved visible light photocatalysis

NH2-MIL-125(Ti) has been post-synthetically functionalized with dye-like molecular fragments. The new material (methyl red-MIL-125(Ti)) exhibits improved light absorption over a wide range of the visible spectrum, and shows enhanced photocatalytic oxidation activity under visible light illumination. The consequences of functionalization and the bottlenecks in MOF photochemistry are studied in detail.