Photocatalytic and magnetic properties of two new Co(II) cluster-based metal-organic frameworks

The photocatalytic activities and magnetic properties of two new Co(II)-based MOFs have been explored. The plausible mechanism of them displayed photocatalytic properties have been proposed through density of states (DOS) calculations. [Display omitted] •The photocatalytic activities of both the MOFs to hotodegraded methyl violet have been tested.•The plausible photocatalytic mechanism has been addressed using band gap calculations.•The magnetic properties of both the MOFs also have been studied in detail. The solvothermal reactions of 5,5′-(4,4′-phenylene-bis-(methyleneoxy)) diisophthalic acid (H4L) and two chelating N-donor ancillary ligands with Co(II) yielded two new metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) viz., [Co2(μ2-H2O)(L)(2,2′-bipy)2]n(1) and [Co2(μ2-H2O)(L)(phen)2]n(2) (2,2′-bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine and phen = 1,10-phenanthroline). The single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies revealed that 1 and 2 are isostructural and display 3D network which are based on [Co2(μ2-H2O)] units. The photocatalytic activities of 1 and 2 have been checked for the photodegradation of methyl violet (MV) under UV light. The results indicate that the MOFs studied are stable and good candidates as photocatalysts for dye degradation. The plausible mechanism of photocatalytic properties have been proposed through density of states (DOS) calculations. Magnetic studies for both 1 and 2 revealed dominant antiferromagnetic coupling between the Co(II) ions.