Enhancing Photocatalytic Performance of NH2-UIO66 by Defective Structural Engineering

Abstract NH 2 -UIO66 (NU) is a promising photocatalyst for the reduction of Cr(VI) to low-toxic Cr(III) driven by visible light under ambient conditions. However, main limitation in this process inefficient ligand metal charge transfer (LMCT) photo-excited electrons, which caused inherent energy gap (? E LMCT ). This study synthesized defective NU (NUX-H, where X molar equivalent modulator) with reduced ? through linkers removal via acid treatment. The electronic structure NUX-H was systematically investigated, and results indicated that structural defects strongly altered environment Zr atoms. Furthermore, they substantially lowered unoccupied d orbitals (LUMO), beneficial efficient LMCT, resulting an improved photocatalytic activity toward high-concentration (100 mg/L) reduction. Compared defect-free structure, reducing rate increased 47 times. work introduced alternative strategy terms designing photocatalysts