Fe-and-N co-doped Fe-ZIF-8-NH2(1/10) prepared by molecular-scale cages effect for highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes

The amino and iron modified Metal-organic frameworks was successfully synthesized via a skillfully strategy and used as a photocatalyst to decompose organic dyes under visible light irradiation. Results show that 50 mg catalyst can almost degrade 100% MB within just 25 min at a wide pH (3.4–11.9) range. The kinetics constant (k) on Fe-ZIF-8-NH2(1/10) is estimated to be 0.0896 min−1, significantly higher than control samples. Meanwhile, there is little effect of various water sources on catalytic activities, and the rate reaches 97.1% (in Tap water), 88.5% (in Yangtze River water) and 78.1% (in oilfield brine with ultrahigh mineralization). Besides, the Fe-ZIF-8-NH2(1/10) exhibits high stability after 5 cyclic runs, and the ICP detects a small amount of Fe3+ (0.153 mg/L) leaching. Characterization reveals the catalyst has hierarchical porous structure, a rather homogeneous geometric topology and uniformly dispersed active sites. Based on the N 1 s spectrum of XPS, the nitrogen group is successfully loaded in amino mode. Its band gap drops sharply from 5.11 eV to 2.17 eV and the peak of PL spectra is much smaller, and the Fe-ZIF-8-NH2(1/10) possesses stronger absorption in visible light region and the response wavelength is widened to 700 nm. Further, the possible mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of pollutants is also proposed. The h+ is the most effective active species, meanwhile, •O2−, e− and •OH are both apparently participated in the photodegradation process. This study introduces valuable information for constructing high active catalysts on administration of water pollution.