Construction of UiO-66@MoS2 flower-like hybrids through electrostatically induced self-assembly with enhanced photodegradation activity towards lomefloxacin

Abstract Although metal organic frameworks (MOFs) presented excellent photocatalytic activities, the rapid recombination of light-induced charges and low visible light utilization efficiency hindered their practical applications. In this work, a novel heterojunction photocatalytic materials of MOFs-based semiconductor, the flower-like hybrids (UiO-66@MoS2) (UMS), were fabricated via a facile electrostatic induction self-assembly method. A series of characterizations, such as SEM, TEM, EDS, EDX, XRD, XPS, BET, FT-IR and TGA, indicated the successful synthesis of hybrid materials and revealed that MoS2 nanosheets grew on the surfaces of the UiO-66 with an intimate interaction, and then formed a flower-like structure through self-assembly, which effectively prevented recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. Comparing with pure UiO-66 and MoS2, the flower-like hybrids (UMS) exhibited remarkable performance for the degradation of lomefloxacin hydrochloride (LOM) under visible-light irradiation. Furthermore, its photoelectrochemical properties were characterized by photoluminescence spectra (PL), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS). Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanism of UiO-66@MoS2 was investigated. It indicated that its photocatalytic activity was enhanced by the synergetic effect of MoS2 and UiO-66. In summary, a novel heterojunction photocatalysts, being fabricated via a facile method, could be applied to effectively photocatalytic treatment of medical wastewater.