Strategic growth engineering of Ag self-doped Ag2CO3 on MIL-53 MOF: A novel p-n heterostructure facilitates serendipitous charge migration and remarkable multimodal photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Materials today communications 2023-06, Vol.35, p.105842, Article 105842
• Main Authors: Sahoo, Ugrabadi, Choudhury, Shubhalaxmi, Pattnayak, Samarjit, Aparajita, Pragnyashree, Hota, Garudadhwaj, Ramakrishna, Seeram
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Metal-organic frameworks; Metallic silver (Ag0); P-n heterojunction; Photocatalytic H2 evolution; Z-scheme mechanism
• ISSN: 2352-4928; 2352-4928
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2023.105842

The significance of influencing the transit of photoinduced exciton is to replicate the intrinsic power of natural photosynthesis using Z-scheme-based charge-transfer pathway in a p-n heterostructure. Herein, Ag2CO3 was incorporated within an MIL-53 (Fe) MOF matrix to synthesize MAC-X hybrid p-n heterostructure that had remarkable photocatalytic activity. The optimal photocatalyst MAC-30 showed the highest photocatalytic efficiency towards RhB degradation with rate constant (0.025 min−1) which was 3.57 and 4.16 times more than pristine Ag2CO3 and MIL-53 respectively. The MAC-30 photocatalyst also exhibited superior photocatalytic H2 evolution (1346 μmol.h−1.g−1) with apparent conversion efficiency of 8.59%. Self-reduced Ag nanoparticle in MAC-X composites acts as an electron mediator in the Z-scheme mechanism path to improve the photocatalytic performances. Additionally, the MAC-30 heterostructure exhibits better stability even after five consecutive catalytic cycles. This study may provide perceptiveness into fabrication of novel p-n heterostructure photocatalytic systems for green energy generation and environmental remediation. [Display omitted] ●Ag self-doped Ag2CO3/ MIL-53 p-n heterostructure material was fabricated.●The Ag2CO3/MIL-53 nanocomposites were implemented in photocatalytic Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation and H2 evolution reaction.●Metallic Silver in MAC composites facilitates to the Z-scheme charge migration dynamics.●MAC-30 nanocomposite shows highest charge separation and lowest recombination.●MAC-30 nanocomposites exhibit efficient RhB degradation (0.025 min−1) and H2 production (1346 μmol g−1 h−1) activity.