Tetrathiomolybdate@ZIFs nanocrystal clusters: A novel modular and controllable catalyst for photocatalytic application

Abstract

Constructing MOFs-composite catalyst with satisfactory catalytic efficiency as well as low cost still presents a major challenge. In this work, a low-cost modular photocatalyst with controllable activity is facilely fabricated by embedding ZIF-8 nanocrystal clusters with ammonium tetrathiomolybdate (ATTM) (donated as ZIF-MS). The embedded ATTM molecules can not only serve as photocatalytic sites but also alter the nucleation and morphology of the resulted ZIF-MS, showing controllable activity for catalytic application. Under the optimized proportion of precursors, 576.52 nm ZIF-MS nanocrystal cluster composed of 24.70 nm grain, showing high activity and size selectivity for the photocatalytic degradation of environmental pollutants, was obtained. The combination of size-selectivity of structure-tunable ZIFs with high photocatalytic activity of embedded noble-free inorganic photocatalytic agent makes these ZIF-MS ideal candidates for photocatalytic applications. Keywords: Ammonium tetrathiomolybdate, MOFs, Photocatalysis, Controllable catalyst, Size-selectivity