Novel Metal-Organic Framework Cocrystal Strategy for Significantly Enhancing Photocatalytic Performance

Owing to their high carrier recombination speed and low spectral utilization, it is difficult to further improve the performance of photocatalysts. In this study, a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) self-assembled cocrystal material is developed. The guest molecule is inserted and self-assembled with the existing MOF ligand to form an organic cocrystal. The highly ordered molecular arrangement and tight intermolecular distances between donor and acceptor molecules promote a strong pi-pi charge transfer interaction, facilitating the migration and separation of photogenerated charge carriers. In addition, efficient redshifts in the absorption wavelength enhance the response to visible light. Further, the unique porous structure of MOFs is beneficial for increasing the interfacial area of photocatalytic reactions, and metal ions can become the center of photogenerated carrier capture, effectively inhibiting carrier recombination. Consequently, the MOF cocrystal demonstrates remarkable efficiency in the degradation of pollutants in water, achieving a noteworthy removal efficiency of 95.31% within 15 min. Moreover, the photocatalyic reaction kinetics constant of the MOF cocrystal is 46.5 times higher, indicating the success of this new strategy in developing highly efficient photocatalytic systems.