Facile encapsulating Ag nanoparticles into a Tetrathiafulvalene-based Zr-MOF for enhanced Photocatalysis

• Ag NPs@Zr-TTFTB was fabricated without extra energy and reducing reagent. • Ag NPs enhanced the photocatalytic activities of Zr-TTFTB. • Ag NPs@Zr-TTFTB exhibited superior stability and recycling ability. A facile and efficient synthetic strategy was used to prepare a silver nanoparticles-doped MOF (Ag NPs@Zr-TTFTB, TTFTB = tetrathiafulvalene tetrabenzoate) catalyst. Considering the stability of Zr 6 cluster-based MOFs and the confinement of small Ag NPs (below 5 nm), title hybrids can be used for the photocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMZ). The prepared Ag NPs@Zr-TTFTB were found to efficiently remove SMZ (k = 0.009 min −1 ) and remain active in the wide range of pH values (3.0 ~ 9.0) and four cycles. The leaching amount of Ag and Zr under different pH values were only accounted for 0.18% ~ 0.61% and 0.01% ~ 0.05% of used Ag NPs@Zr-TTFTB, respectively, which indicated its excellent stability. Studies on the catalytic mechanism revealed that the proposed heterostructure of Ag NPs and Zr-TTFTB led to the electron transfer and the generation of active oxygen species, resulting in its remarkable photocatalytic activities.