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Abstract Photocatalytic degradation under ultra-low powered light is a viable advanced oxidation process technique against extensive emerging contaminants. As a new and remarkable class of nanoporous materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), attract interest for the supreme adsorptive and photocatalytic functionalities. An outstanding MOF, MIL-101 (Fe) chosen as a photocatalyst template for the synthesis of α-Fe 2 O 3 by a simple thermal modification to improve the structural properties toward methylene blue (MB) eradication. Octahedron-like α-Fe 2 O 3 photocatalyst (Modified MIL-101 (Fe), M-MIL-101 (Fe) ) was superior in dispersion and separation properties in aqueous medium. Moreover, the adsorptive and catalytic performance was increased for modified form by ~ 7. 3% and ~ 17. 1% compared to pristine MIL-101 (Fe), respectively. Synergistic improvement of MB removal achieved by simultaneous adsorption/degradation under 5-W LED irradiation. Parametric study indicated an 18. 1% and 44. 5% improvement in MB removal was observed by increasing pH from 4 to 10, and M-MIL-101 (Fe) dose from 0. 2 to 1 g L −1, respectively. MB removal followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the process efficiency dropped by 38% as MB concentration increased from 5 to 20 mg L −1. Radical trapping tests revealed the significant role of OH^. OH. and electron radicals as the major participants in dye degradation. A significant loss in the efficiency of M-MIL-101 (Fe) was observed in the reusability tests that is good to study further. In conclusion, a simple thermal post-synthesis modification on MIL-101 (Fe) improved its structural, catalytic, and adsorptive properties against MB.
Fattahi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.