Bimetallic Metal‐Organic Framework Derived ZnO/Ni0.9Zn0.1O Nanocomposites for Improved Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes

Abstract An optimized structure is of considerable importance for nickle oxide (NiO)‐based materials to achieve high performance as catalyst for contaminant degradation due to the inherent large band gap. Herein, a series of hybrids of NiO nanoparticles doped with zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor were fabricated via a facile one‐step calcination of bimetallic metal‐organic frameworks with varied Ni 2+ /Zn 2+ molar ratios (MOF‐NiZn). It is worth noting that partial positions of Ni in NiO lattice are replaced by Zn to form a Ni 0.9 Zn 0.1 O phase. Benefiting from the unique hybrid advantage, the rationally designed material could effectively lower the band gap of NiO, thus improving the photocatalytic performance. The optimized ZnO/Ni 0.9 Zn 0.1 O‐82 catalyst exhibits the highest degradation activity towards methylene blue (MB) with efficiency up to 97.4 % within 60 min. Additionally, the radicals trapping experiments reveal that the photo‐generated hydroxyl radical ( . OH) is the predominant active species during the photodegradation of MB.