UiO-66/TiO2 nanostructures as adsorbent/photocatalytic composites for air treatment towards dry dimethyl methylphosphonate-laden air flow as a chemical warfare agent analog

The coupling of UiO-66 to TiO2 nanoparticles (P25 NP) and nanosheets (NS) at various UiO-66/ TiO2 ratios was achieved. The obtained composites exhibited high specific area, thus enhancing their dimethyl methylphosphonate-adsorption capacities. In the case of P25-based composites, the presence of UiO-66 slightly lowered the band gap energy of TiO2. The total amount of removed DMMP and the breakthrough time were considered as criteria to assess and compare the performance of all materials towards DMMP-laden (330 ppm) flow photodecontamination over 16 h. P25-based composites presented all enhanced decontamination activity considering the total amount of eliminated DMMP compared to bare P25, highlighting the best performance over 10 wt% UiO-66/P25 (92 ± 13% of total amount of DMMP decontaminated) photocatalyst. On this composite, DMMP was converted into strongly adsorbed MMP, MP and MeOH. DMMP-decontamination performance of NS-based composites remained lower than the P25-based one. [Display omitted] •Photocatalytic DMMP-decontamination performed by UiO-66/TiO2 nanoparticles (P25) and UiO-66/TiO2 nanosheets (NS) composites.•Efficient heterojunctions and enhancement of the surface area were obtained by coupling UiO-66/TiO2.•UiO-66/P25 composites presented all enhanced decontamination activity.•Presence of surface defects and obstruction of NS by UiO-66 particles lowered performances of UiO-66/NS composites.•10 wt% UiO-66/P25 converted 92 ± 13% of total amount of DMMP decontaminated over 16 h.