UiO-66-NH2/Cu2O composite as an enhanced visible light photocatalyst for decomposition of organic pollutants

Abstract UiO-66-NH2/Cu2O composites with different loading amounts of UiO-66-NH2 were successfully synthesized by using a facile impregnation process. The photocatalytic performances of the composites were measured by the methyl orange (MO) degradation. It is found that the developed UiO-66-NH2/Cu2O composites possessed better photocatalytic behavior than the pure Cu2O, and the 20 wt% UiO-66-NH2/Cu2O photocatalyst showed the excellent photodegradation activity, by which 98.6% of MO could be decomposed within 50 min. In addition, it showed an excellent reusability since the severe photocorrosion issue of Cu2O was suppressed significantly by combining with UiO-66-NH2. The excellent photodegradation efficiency of 20 wt% UiO-66-NH2/Cu2O should be due to the synergistic effect between Cu2O and UiO-66-NH2, in which efficient interfacial charge transfer improved the separation effect of photoinduced electron-hole pairs within the Z-scheme heterojunction The active species trapping experiments indicated that the photo-generated h+ and O2− radicals were the major active species involved in the MO degradation under visible light.