In situ deposition of Ag/AgCl on the surface of magnetic metal-organic framework nanocomposite and its application for the visible-light photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine dye.

Herein, NH2-MIL-125(Ti) (NMT) as one of the known stable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in aqueous solution was successfully magnetized with CoFe2O4 nanoparticles through the hydrothermal method. The Ag/AgCl as a plasmonic photocatalyst was assembled on the CoFe2O4/NMT (CFNMT) at room temperature by in situ deposition, and photo-reduction methods to improve the photocatalytic activity of CFNMT under LED visible light. The prepared materials were fully characterized by SEM/EDX, TEM, FTIR, XRD, UV-DRS, and VSM analysis. Rhodamin B (RhB) was selected as the pollutant model. The results showed that the Ag/AgCl@CFNMT had super-fast degradation ability of RhB molecule due to the synergetic effect between Ag/AgCl and CFNMT in comparison with NMT and CFNMT. The introduced Ag/AgCl on the surface of CFNMT increased absorption of photons in the visible region and enhanced the transfer and separation of the produced charge on the contact area between Ag/AgCl and CFNMT. Also, after seven times recycling, besides the simple magnetic separation of Ag/AgCl@CFNMT from liquid media, the composite still showed high photodegradation ability (89%).