Ce-MOF modified Ceria-based photocatalyst for enhancing the photocatalytic performance

Fabricating efficient and stable photocatalysts with an improved photocatalytic property is necessary to decontaminate wastewater. Herein, the Ce-MOF@h-CeO2 microspheres with a hollow structure are designed and synthesized. The unique hollow structure with the π-π conjugate organic ligand offers abundant reactive sites and a charge transfer channel, both enhancing the performance of photocatalysts. The SEM and TEM tests showed that the Ce-MOF@h-CeO2 composite retains the hollow microsphere structure, and its diameter is about 600–900 nm. At the same time, the prepared composite showed excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light-driven, within 30 min dark adsorption and 150 min visible light, the degradation rate for RhB reached 95.5% of Ce-MOF/h-CeO2-2 composite, which were 7.17 and 4.46 times of h-CeO2 and Ce-MOF, respectively. Furthermore, the composite of Ce-MOF@h-CeO2-2 exhibited a remarkable photocatalytic hydrogen evolution efficiency (3419.38 μmol‧g−1‧h−1), which was 15.16 and 10.91 times greater than that of the pure samples. This study provides helpful results of the metal–organic framework that can sensitize effectively the inorganic semiconductor materials for improving photocatalytic performance.