Engineering highly effective and stable nanocomposite photocatalyst based on NH2-MIL-125 encirclement with Ag3PO4 nanoparticles

The development of highly efficient photocatalyst under visible light still a challenge. Herein we present band gap modification of NH2-MIL-125 by encirclement with suitable semiconductor that possesses a narrow band gap Ag3PO4 nanoparticles (NPs). The band gap of NH2-MIL-125 was decreased from 2.51 to 2.39 eV, making them potential candidates for photocatalytic applications. Our prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). TEM characterizations indicated that NH2-MIL-125 MOFs are coated with Ag3PO4 NPs. The photocatalytic activity (PCA) was evaluated in the liquid-solid phase, by monitoring the degradation of an organic dye (methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine-B (RhB)) under visible-light irradiation. Furthermore, the Ag3PO4@NH2-MIL-125 nanocomposites shown themselves to be the most active with the reaction rate being 39 and 35 times higher than the well known Degussa P25 TiO2 toward photocatalytic degradation of MB and RhB.