Portable and highly enhanced surface enhanced Raman scattering and photocatalytic activity of cost-effective hierarchical hollow metal organic frameworks heterostructures induced by etched titanium sheet

In order to effectively detect and remove organic toxics in wastewater, the facile construction of plug and play bifunctional materials is very vital. Herein, a kind of metal-organic frameworks (MIL-53 (Fe) with hollow tubular structure was induced by an etched Ti sheet (ET), and then small sized Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were in-situ anchored evenly on the internal and external surfaces of MIL-53 (Fe). Subsequently, a new type of bifunctional material (ETMA) was assembled. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and photocatalytic activity of the material were investigated with crystal violet (CV, a carcinogenic and teratogenic toxic) as an analyte. The results found that trace amount of CV (1 × 10−12 M) can still be sensitively detected by the fabricated ETMA, and analysis enhancement factors as high as 6.9 × 105 even though only 1.39 wt. % Ag was contained in the ETMA. Moreover, nearly 100 % of CV can be rapidly degraded by the ETMA after irradiated for 15 min, which was 44.47 times and 7.27 times faster than those of ET-Ag (ETA) and ET-MIL-53 (Fe) (ETM), respectively. Additionally, the removal efficiency of total organic carbon (TOC) was as high as 75.44 %. The remarkable enrichment effect, the strong interaction among components, and the synergistic effect in the target ETMA material were responsible to the dramatically enhanced SERS and photocatalytic performances. In addition, the cost-effective ETMA exhibited excellent uniformity, repeatability, stability, and recyclability towards the detection and removal of CV in actual water samples, showing great potentials in monitoring and removing organic pollutants in practical ecological environment.