Ligand modification of UiO-66 with an unusual visible light photocatalytic behavior for RhB degradation

A series of isostructural UiO-66-X (X = H, NH2, Br, (OH)2, (SH)2) catalysts have been successfully synthesized by modifying different functional groups on the ligand. The effects of the ligand modification of UiO-66 were investigated for their photocatalytic activity of Rhodamine B degradation under visible light. Surprisingly, UiO-66-NH2 and UiO-66-(OH)2 which have narrow bandgaps and excellent visible light absorption do not show outstanding photocatalytic performances compared to UiO-66 and UiO-66-Br. Electrochemical test results indicated that the conduction band potential of UiO-66-X and the separation efficiency of electrons were quite important in these photocatalytic reactions, other than the electronic effect as reported. Similar photocatalytic degradation behaviors were found for Congo red and methyl orange. Herein, we firstly reported different mechanisms of selective degradation in the case of UiO-66, which subverted the previous understanding of photodegradation behavior.