Self-Assembly of a 3D Hollow BiOBr@Bi-MOF Heterostructure with Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Dyes

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 13; no. 47; pp. 56171 - 56180
• Main Authors: Xu, Mei-Ling, Jiang, Xiao-Jie, Li, Jia-Ran, Wang, Fu-Ji, Li, Kui, Cheng, Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications; hollow morphology; BiOBr@Bi-MOF; photocatalytic degradation; solubility product; heterostructure
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c16612

Considering the flexibility, adjustable pore structure, and abundant active sites of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), rational design and fine control of the MOF-based hetero-nanocrystals is a highly important and challenging subject. In this work, self-assembly of a 3D hollow BiOBr@Bi-MOF microsphere was fabricated through precisely controlled dissociation kinetics of the self-sacrificial template (BiOBr) for the first time, where the residual quantity of BiOBr and the formation of Bi-MOF were carefully regulated by changing the reaction time and the capability of coordination. Meanwhile, the hollow microstructure was formed in BiOBr@Bi-MOF through the Oswald ripening mechanism to separate photogenerated electron–hole pairs and increase the adsorption capacity of Bi-MOF for dyes, which significantly enhanced the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RhB from 56.4% for BiOBr to 99.4% for the optimal BiOBr@Bi-MOF microsphere. This research broadens the selectivity of semiconductor/MOF hetero-nanocrystals with reasonable design and flexible synthesis.