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Assembling Ag@CuO/UiO-66-NH2 nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of xylene

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Abstract

Achieving efficient and stable photocatalytic degradation of xylene hinges on the advancement of photocatalytic materials with outstanding visible light activity. This low-carbon strategy serves as a promising solution to combat air pollution effectively. In this study, we synthesized a Z-scheme heterojunction Ag@CuO/UiO-66-NH2 nanocomposite by hydrothermal method to investigate its photodegradation properties for xylene gas under visible light conditions. XRD, XPS, SEM, FTIR, and UV–vis analyses were employed to confirm the presence of the Z-scheme heterojunction. The CuO/UiO-66-NH2 (CuU-2) composite has high photocatalytic activity, which is 2.37 times that of the original UiO-66-NH2. The incorporation of Z-scheme heterojunction facilitates efficient charge transfer and separation, leading to a substantial enhancement in photocatalytic activity. The Ag@CuO/UiO-66-NH2 (Ag-1@CuU) composite has the highest photocatalytic activity with a degradation efficiency of 84.12%, which is 3.36 times and 1.41 times that of UiO-66-NH2 and CuO/UiO-66-NH2, respectively. The silver cocatalyst improves the absorption capacity of the composite material to visible light, makes the ultraviolet visible absorption edge redshift, and significantly improves the photocatalytic performance. This study introduces a novel approach for xylene gas degradation and offers a versatile strategy for designing and synthesizing metal–organic framework (MOF)-based photocatalysts with exceptional performance.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Fujian University of Technology and Fuzhou University: Department of Environmental Engineering.

Funding

This work was financed by the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (2019YFC1904103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350100, People’s Republic of China

    Xi Lin

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, People’s Republic of China

    Runyu Liu

  3. School of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, 350100, People’s Republic of China

    Wenfeng Nie & Xinzhong Liu

  4. School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214000, People’s Republic of China

    Feng Tian

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  1. Xi Lin
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  2. Runyu Liu
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Contributions

Xi Lin: investigation, methodology, writing — original draft, formal analysis (first author). Runyu Liu: methodology, investigation, writing — review and editing. Wenfeng Nie: methodology, validation, formal analysis. Feng Tian: data curation, writing — review and editing. Xinzhong Liu: conceptualization, validation, resources, writing — review and editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition (corresponding author).

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Correspondence to Xinzhong Liu.

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Lin, X., Liu, R., Nie, W. et al. Assembling Ag@CuO/UiO-66-NH2 nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of xylene. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 2394–2407 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31340-8

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