Synergetic effect of metal-organic framework UiO-66 and silver plasmonic nanoparticles on PET waste support in degradation of nerve agent simulant

Abstract

The combination of versatile metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with high porosity and catalytic activity with plasmonic nanoparticles (PNPs) defines a new paradigm in photocatalytic degradation of ecotoxicants. Herein, we prepared a novel composite from a waste polyethylene terephthalate, MOF – UiO-66 and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for degradation of nerve agent simulant paraoxon-ethyl, where the additional plasmon excitation at 455 nm enhances Lewis’s acid activity of UiO-66. The obtained material was characterized by spectroscopic: XRD, UV-Vis, FT-IR, XPS, microscopic: SEM, TEM and ICP-MS and TGA. We found the balance between pore availability of UiO-66 for paraoxon-ethyl adsorption to Lewis sites, plasmonic enhancement, and cost minimization in optimal material through variation of added Ag precursor amounts PET@UiO-66-Ag25. Synergetic mechanisms enhanced the degradation rate by more than 3 times compared to PET@UiO-66 with the quantitative paraoxon degradation for 1 hour (>95 %) and >99 % for 2 hours. Moreover, the prepared material is overperforming other materials in terms of environmental impact, easiness of preparation, visible light usage, high apparent quantum yield and recycling performance.