S-型分级多孔CdS/UiO-66光催化剂的构建实现4-硝基苯胺的高效还原

金属有机框架(MOFs)材料因其高孔隙率特性在气体吸附分离、药物传递、催化等领域具有广泛应用.近年来,将功能化纳米颗粒(NPs)封装在MOFs中的研究在催化领域引起了科学家的兴趣.其中,较大比表面积的MOFs可以为NPs的分散和固定提供理想的平台,而NPs反过来可以为催化反应引入更多的活性位点,提高催化效率.然而,MOFs本身的孔隙常局限于微孔(<2 nm),这极大地限制了NPs在MOFs孔隙中的有效封装.因此,设计并制备含有介孔(2?50 nm)或大孔(>50 nm)的多级孔MOFs,揭示其孔径大小对复杂NPs/MOFs复合催化剂催化性能的影响具有重要意义.然而,具有不同孔径MOFs的可控制备具有巨大挑战性,MOFs孔径如何影响和调控NPs/MOFs复合材料催化活性是一个悬而未决的科学问题.本文结合金属离子刻蚀法和调控配体法设计了两种具有不同孔径(大孔和介孔)的UiO-66,并系统研究了孔径大小对CdS NPs的分布以及所形成的复合催化剂CdS/UiO-66的催化性能的影响及机制.我们首先阐明了UiO-66调控孔径后影响和修饰CdS NPs的空间分布:对于具有开放大孔结构的UiO-66纳米笼,CdS NPs倾向于自发沉积在UiO-66纳米笼内壁上.相比之下,CdS NPs则主要附着于介孔UiO-66的外表面.据此,具有大孔和介孔结构的CdS/UiO-66表现出不同的光催化性能.以光还原4-硝基苯胺反应为例,大孔CdS/UiO-66的反应速率常数是介孔和实心样品的3?13倍,且优于许多文献报道的CdS复合材料催化剂,表明大孔结构在制备高效复合催化材料上的潜在优势.通过光吸收能力、能级结构等计算表征,该催化剂的电子空穴对传输遵循S-型异质结光催化机制;大孔CdS/UiO-66具有较高光催化活性可归因于纳米笼对NPs的限域效应,即CdS被限制在UiO-66纳米笼内,缩短了催化剂与底物之间的电子传输距离;空心纳米笼结构则保护其内部的CdS NPs免受光腐蚀的影响,进而获得较高的催化效率和循环稳定性.可见,本文提出了一种结合离子刻蚀法和调控配体法获得具有不同孔径MOFs的有效策略,阐明了调控MOFs的孔径尺寸可以影响NPs的空间分布,是制约其性能的关键因素,有望为高效催化剂的设计及催化机制的研究提供新的依据.

Hierarchically porous S-scheme CdS/UiO-66 photocatalyst forefficient 4-nitroaniline reduction

Unveiling the pore-size performance of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) is imperative for con-trollable design of sophisticated catalysts. Herein, UiO-66 with distinct macropores and mesopores were intentionally created and served as substrates to create advanced CdS/UiO-66 catalysts. The pore size impacted the spatial distribution of CdS nanoparticles (NPs): CdS tended to deposit on the external surface of mesoporous UiO-66, but spontaneously penetrated into the large cavity of macroporous UiO-66 nanocage. Normalized to unit amount of CdS, the photocatalytic reaction con-stant of macroporous CdS/UiO-66 over 4-nitroaniline reduction was ～3 folds of that of mesoporous counterpart, and outperformed many other reported state-of-art CdS-based catalysts. A confine-ment effect of CdS NPs within UiO-66 cage could respond for its high activity, which could shorten the electron-transport distance of NPs-MOFs-reactant, and protect the active CdS NPs from photo-corrosion. The finding here provides a straightforward paradigm and mechanism to rationally fab-ricate advance NPs/ MOFs for diverse applications.