In-situ assembly of Cu-BTC nanoparticles onto pollen template with enhanced hydrolytic stability and mechanical performance

Abstract

Herein, a green and facile method is introduced to simultaneously enhance the hydrolytic stability, mechanical performance, and catalytic activity of Cu-BTC nanoparticles, by utilizing pollen as the biotemplate for self-assembling Cu-BTC nanoparticles. The resulting A-bio-Cu-BTC composite retains its original morphology after soaking in water at 60 °C for 24 h, experiencing only 8.9 % decrease in the specific BET surface area, which is more stable than the pristine Cu-BTC (a sharp decrease of 94.4 %). For the monoliths fabricated by the 3D printing technique, the A-bio-Cu-BTC grids exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to Cu-BTC girds (tensile strength of 0.45 vs. 0.09 MPa), thereby ensuring good long-term applications. It is found that the organic dye degradation performance of A-bio-Cu-BTC powder and 3D-printed grids is superior to the Cu-BTC samples without biotemplates. Moreover, the incorporation of pollen also facilitates the generation of abundant Cu(Ⅰ) species on the surface of Cu-BTC (the ratio of Cu(Ⅰ)/Cu(Ⅱ) increased from 0.80 to 1.67), which enhances the degradation performance of organic dyes.