Bimetallic Metal Organic Frameworks as Magnetically Separable Heterogeneous Catalysts and Photocatalytic Dye Degradation

A new bimetallic MOF (BMOF) has been synthesized using iron and zinc as inorganic metal nodes and 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC) as the organic linker molecule. BMOF was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy high-angle annular dark-field imaging (TEM-HAADF), field emission scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (FESEM-EDX), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. The synthesized BMOF shows excellent optical and magnetic properties. BMOF acts as a heterogeneous catalyst and shows high catalytic activity towards bis(indolyl)methane synthesis and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible-light illumination.