Fabrication of MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl plasmonic nanocomposite: An improved metal organic framework based photocatalyst for degradation of some organic pollutants

Metal organic framework (MOF) based MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl nanocomposite (NC) was synthesized as a novel plasmonic photocatalyst via a facile reflux method. The as-prepared NC was characterized by various techniques. The photocatalytic efficiency of MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl was investigated by photo-degradation of six cationic and anionic dyes. The effect of different factors including weight ratio of NCs, illumination time, and initial dye concentration on the photocatalytic performance of MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl were experimentally investigated. The MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl(10%) exhibited the highest catalytic performance for photo-degradation of different dye contaminants. Results indicated about 80–100% of tested dyes were removed by MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl under LED-light irradiation in 90 ​min. Because of heterojunction between the Ag/AgCl nanoparticles (NPs) and MIL-53(Al), the MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl NC showed higher photocatalytic ability. The results confirmed that due to some considerable features of MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl such as high surface area, surface plasmon resonance effect, and recyclability, the introduced NC acts as a high performance photocatalyst for degradation of dyes in aqueous solutions. [Display omitted] •Synthesis of MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl plasmonic photocatalyst with remarkable features is reported.•The photocatalyst exhibited high performance in removal of various dyes.•Photodegradation activity of the MIL-53(Al)/Ag/AgCl for RhB is 13 times higher than MIL-53(Al).•The heterojunction between MIL-53(Al) and Ag/AgCl NPs played key role in photoactivity.