MOF-templated synthesis of nano Ag2O/ZnO/CuO heterostructure for photocatalysis

Conversion of metal-organic frameworks to metal oxide nanoparticles is subject of significant research interest for developing high surface area light-active catalysts. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate synthesis of hybrid metal oxide nanocomposites, CuO/ZnO and Ag2O/ZnO/CuO, from bimetallic Zn-Cu metal-organic frameworks using temperature-programmed oxidation method. As-prepared hybrid photocatalysts show very high surface area compared to typical metal oxide nanoparticles with an increase in the surface to bulk Cu ratio due to the synergistic effect between CuO and ZnO. Photocatalytic measurements for degradation of Acid Blue 92 show a pronounced activity increase under visible light irradiation afforded by efficient carrier separation and transfer from coupling a high band gap n-type ZnO with low band gap p-type CuO and Ag2O. Both photocatalysts exhibit excellent stability and reusability for five successive operating cycles.