Recent development of MIL-101(Cr) for photocatalysis: A mini review

Metal organic framework materials (MOFs) have been received much attention in solving environmental problems and energy issues. MIL-101(Cr) has become a promising candidate in the field of photocatalysis due to its high specific surface area, tunable pore structures, good chemical stability, and the presence of active sites. However, the intrinsic MIL-101(Cr) severe photogenerated electron-hole pairs complexation limits its photocatalytic ability, resulting in a low performance during photocatalysis. To overcome this drawback, the photogenerated electron-hole pairs complexation efficiency can be hindered by various modification strategies. This paper provides an overview of those reports on the application of MIL-101(Cr) as a photocatalyst for the photodegradation of organic pollutants, photoreduction of CO2, and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution in recent years and summarizes the MIL-101(Cr) in terms of its structure, preparation methods and modification strategies. The reasons for the enhanced photocatalytic ability possessed by modified MIL-101(Cr) composite materials have been analyzed in detail. Finally, the existing shortcomings of MIL-101(Cr) as photocatalyst are discussed and the main challenges and development prospects of MIL-101(Cr) applied in photocatalysis are presented. This review will be favorable for researchers in the rational design and development of MIL-101(Cr) composite photocatalysts.