Facile construction of a ZIF-67/AgCl/Ag heterojunction via chemical etching and surface ion exchange strategy for enhanced visible light driven photocatalysis

It is of great importance to design and fabricate heterojunction photocatalysts to improve photocatalytic performance. In this work, a novel ZIF-67/AgCl/Ag heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by a facile chemical etching, deposition–precipitation, light-induced reduction approach. After chemical etching by a AgNO₃ precursor, the crystal size of ZIF-67 decreased remarkably together with the replacement of Co²⁺ in the framework of ZIF-67 by Ag⁺via surface ion exchange. As a result, optical and electrochemical measurements indicated that the separation efficiency of light-induced electrons and holes obviously increased due to the formation of a ZIF-67/AgCl/Ag heterojunction and the surface plasmon resonance of Ag⁰. Meanwhile, the corresponding kinetic rate constant of ZIF-67/AgCl/Ag was estimated to be 0.1615 min⁻¹, which was 17, 7.76 and 2.67 times as high as that of individual ZIF-67, AgCl and ZIF-67/AgCl, respectively. The ZIF-67/AgCl/Ag photocatalyst also exhibited good stability and reusability in the process of photodegradation. This work demonstrated a high efficiency photocatalyst for providing new sights into the preparation of a highly efficient MOF-based heterojunction photocatalyst and its potential applications in water purification.

It is of great importance to design and fabricate heterojunction photocatalysts to improve photocatalytic performance.