Regulating Lewis acidity and local electron density of iron-based metal organic frameworks via cerium doping for efficient photo-Fenton process

The photo-Fenton performance of Fe-based metal organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) largely depends on the amount and the local electron density of metal coordinately unsaturated sites (M CUSs). However, a majority of Fe active sites are fully bound by organic ligands leading to decreased Fe CUSs. Additionally, the symmetrical electronic distribution of iron-oxo (Fe-O) clusters and the fast electron-hole recombination are unbeneficial for the directional electron transfer and the following electron accumulation on Fe CUSs. Herein, the structure of Fe-O clusters onto the framework of MIL-88B was controllably regulated via change of Ce doping amount, among which Fe0.8Ce0.2-MIL-88B exhibited highest removal efficiency of tetracycline (TC). That was mainly ascribed to the following two points: for one, the induced ligand missing defects ameliorated the pore structures and generated more M CUSs; for another, the lower electronegativity of Ce than Fe and the role of ligand missing defects as electron trap state collectively increased the local electron density at Fe CUSs. As a result, the increased M CUSs provided more active sites for H2O2 coordination and the highly concentrated electrons density at Fe CUSs afforded the substantial electron donation towards robust H2O2 dissociation into ∙OH. Furthermore, the increased mesoporous size favored highly-efficient utilization of ∙OH. This work provides a facile strategy to improve photo-Fenton performance of Fe-MOFs.