Efficient and Sustainable in situ Photo-Fenton Reaction to Remove Phenolic Pollutants by NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe)/Ti 3 C 2 T x Schottky-Heterojunctions.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with abundant active sites, a class of materials composed of metal nodes and organic ligands, is widely used for photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. However, the rapid recombination of photoinduced carriers of MOFs limits its photocatalytic degradation performance. Herein, Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets-based NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe) hybrids with Schottky-heterojunctions were fabricated by in situ hydrothermal assembly for improved photocatalytic activity. The photodegradation efficiencies of the NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe)/Ti 3 C 2 T x (N-M/T) hybrids for phenol and chlorophenol were 96.36 % and 99.83 % within 60 minutes, respectively. The N-M/T Schottky-heterojunction duly transferred electrons to the Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets surface via built-in electric fields, effectively suppressing the recombination of photogenerated carriers, thereby improving the photocatalytic performance of NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe). Moreover, the Fe-mixed-valence in the N-M/T led to improvement in the efficiency of the in situ generated photo-Fenton reactions, further enhancing the photocatalytic activity with more generated reactive oxygen species (ROS). The study proposes a highly effective removal of phenolic pollutants in wastewater.