An organic/inorganic Z-scheme heterojunction Yb-MOF/BiOBr for efficient photocatalytic removal of NO

The advantages of visible light-driven catalysts with good light absorption, fast charge separation rate and high redox capacity are compelling. However, conventional inorganic semiconductor, such as pure BiOBr (BOB), showed a rapid photogenerated carriers recombination rate and low solar energy utilization ability, which limited the practical application of its photocatalytic performance. In this work, a novel organic/inorganic interleaved (Z-scheme) heterojunction Yb-MOF/BiOBr (Yb-MOF/BOB) photocatalyst was successfully synthesized. Compared with a single component, the Yb-MOF/BOB heterojunction exhibited significantly enhanced performance in photocatalytic oxidation of NO under visible light. Among them, Yb-MOF/BOB-20 had the best photocatalytic NO removal effect, up to 6424 ppb/g, which was 2.8 times and 4.2 times that of BOB and Yb-MOF, respectively. Photoelectrochemical characterization confirmed that the formation of heterojunctions broadened the absorption sidebands and increased the charge transfer at the interfacial junction of Yb-MOF/BOB. Combined with UPS, ESR and in-situ DRIFTS analysis, possible photocatalytic mechanisms were revealed, in which the formation of the Yb-MOF/BOB heterostructure endowed its high charge mobility and strong redox ability. Therefore, this work provided an effective way for photocatalytic removal of NO, and offered new ideas for developing heterogeneous photocatalysts.