A simple strategy for fabrication of Pd@MIL-100(Fe) nanocomposite as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst for the treatment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)

Abstract

The effective treatment of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) contained wastewater remains a significant but challenging task for the environmental restoration. In this work, a novel Pd@MIL-100(Fe) nanocomposite has been successfully fabricated via a facile alcohol reduction approach. The resulting Pd@MIL-100(Fe) has exhibited superior photoactivity toward degradation of three typical PPCPs, that is theophylline, ibuprofen and bisphenol A, under visible light irradiation (λ≥420nm). Its photoactivity is also much higher than that of original-MIL-100(Fe). Combining with photoelectrochemical analyses, it could be revealed that the introduction of Pd NPs would minimize the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, thereby improving the photocatalytic performance. Furthermore, the effects of different kinds of metals, the loading amount of noble-metal, the pH value of reaction solution and initial concentration of hydrogen peroxide on the photocatalytic degradation activities have been measured in detail. In addition, a possible photocatalytic reaction mechanism has been investigated. This work has not only represented the first example of using the MOFs photocatalysts to remove the aqueous PPCPs, but also offered useful information on the fabrication of efficient MOF photocatalysts for environmental restoration.