Controlled synthesis and photocatalytic activity of TiO2@MIL-100 (Fe) microspheres

TiO2@MIL-100 (Fe) microspheres with a controllable method were synthesized by incorporating MIL-100(Fe) on TiO2 using a versatile step-by-step self-assembly strategy. The XRD patterns and FT-IR spectra of TiO2@MIL-100 (Fe) indicated the co-existence of TiO2 and MIL-100(Fe). Moreover, loading of MIL-100 (Fe) on TiO2 have increased the surface area as observed in BET experiment. The SEM and TEM images demonstrated the formation of MIL-100(Fe) shells on the TiO2 microsphere. According to UV-Vis DRS data, imparting of MIL-100 (Fe) on TiO2 microsphere caused to a red shift in absorption edge of catalysts and the band gap energy altered from 3.2 eV for TiO2 particles to 2.2 eV for TiO2@MIL-100 (Fe) microsphere. The synthesized composite indicated superior photocatalytic activity in the removal of methylene blue (MB) from water under visible light. The complete degradation of 40 mg/L MB was attained by using synthesized microstructure within 120 min, while commercial TiO2 (P-25) degraded only 36.6% of MB under similar conditions