Efficient and Sustainable in situ Photo-Fenton Reaction to Remove Phenolic Pollutants by NH2-MIL-101(Fe)/Ti3C2Tx 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, Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets-based NH₂-MIL-101(Fe) hybrids with Schottky-heterojunctions were fabricated by in situ hydrothermal assembly for improved photocatalytic activity. The photodegradation efficiencies of the NH₂-MIL-101(Fe)/Ti₃C₂T_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 Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets surface via built-in electric fields, effectively suppressing the recombination of photogenerated carriers, thereby improving the photocatalytic performance of NH₂-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.