Polyoxometalate encapsulated in metal‐organic gel as an efficient catalyst for visible‐light‐driven dye degradation applications

Contamination of industrial sewage by organic dye pollutants is one of the most common challenges to the daily life. Decontamination can be achieved by adsorption and photodegradation of the pollutants. Herein, an effective visible light‐driven photocatalyst of polyoxometalate encapsulated in metal–organic gel was presented. The resulting composite was named PMA@ MOG‐Cr [PMA= H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀, MOG= metal‐organic gel]. Photodegradation of dye pollutants with PMA@ MOG‐Cr were tested. The introduction of Phosphomolybdic Acid significantly enhanced the light‐absorption properties of MOG‐Cr. The PMA@MOG‐Cr showed an excellent photodegradation efficiency of MB, RhB and MO as high as 99% and 97% in 60 min and 91% in 120 min of visible‐light irradiation with only 10 mg photocatalyst, which was the highest among the tested samples MOG‐Cr, PMA@ MOG‐Cr and Degussa P‐25. The mechanism of the photodegradation of dye pollutants with H₂O₂ over PMA@MOG‐Cr under the visible light was further illustrated. The introduction of PMA promotes effective separation of electron–hole pair by trapping and transferring photogenerated electron. Thus, the two components act in synergy to result in much improved adsorption of certain common organic dyes as well as enhanced oxidative degradation. This work provides a new approach to design MOG encapsulated Polyoxometalate for visible light‐induced photodegradation of organic contaminants for the environmental remediation.