Facile synthesis of ZnCd-MOF/Ag3PO4 heterojunction for highly efficient photocatalytic oxygen evolution

Constructing suitable heterojunction with interface engineering has been an effective way to boost charge separation of semiconductors, thus providing improved photocatalytic ability. In this work, a novel bimetallic framework (ZnCd-MOF) was prepared to construct heterojunction with Ag3PO4. The ZnCd-MOF nanosheets were dispersed around Ag3PO4 particles with a close interface; as a result, the interface photo-charge separation was enhanced, and more photogenerated holes can be concentrated on the Ag3PO4 for realizing a higher photocatalytic activity. The obtained ZnCd-MOF/Ag3PO4 composites exhibited higher photocatalytic oxygen production activity than that of pure Ag3PO4. Furthermore, when the content of ZnCd-MOF in the composite increased from 1 to 10 wt%, the oxygen production increased from 1399 to 2458 µmol g−1 under simulated sunlight irradiation. This work provides a new way to design high-efficiency Ag3PO4-based heterojunction photocatalyst via taking full advantage of the interface engineering in the composite together with providing abundant active sites for photocatalytic oxygen production.