Synthesis of Fe-MOFs/h-CeO₂ hollow micro-spheres and their highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of RhB

A series of Fe-MOFs/h-CeO₂ composite photocatalysts were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using cerium oxide hollow microspheres as carriers, naphthalene dicarboxylic acid as an organic ligand, and iron as a metal center. The obtained samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis, XPS, and PL. It shows that the samples contained hollow CeO₂ microspheres with a diameter of about 500 nm as the carrier, and the surface was a burr-like shell coated with Fe-MOFs about 100 nm. The bandgap of Fe-MOFs/h-CeO₂ was reduced to 1.62 eV; the photocatalytic performance was tested via RhB degradation. The results indicate that the Fe-MOFs/h-CeO₂ composites show enhanced photocatalytic activity, in contrast with CeO₂ hollow microspheres. All of this can be attributed to the that the MOFs fabricated could not only improve the light adsorption through the outer shells and provide more active sites but also enhance charge carriers. It is expected that this study could provide helpful results for fabricating and exploration of composite catalysts with tunable photocatalytic performance.