Designing a novel heterostructure AgInS@MIL-101(Cr) photocatalyst from PET plastic waste for tetracycline degradation

• Published in: Nanoscale advances Vol. 4; no. 17; pp. 36 - 368
• Main Authors: Pham, Xuan N, Vu, Van-Tai, Nguyen, Hong Van T, Nguyen, T.-Thanh-Bao, Doan, Huan V
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 23-08-2022
• ISSN: 2516-0230
• DOI: 10.1039/d2na00371f

Semiconductor-containing porous materials with a well-defined structure could be unique scaffolds for carrying out selective organic transformations driven by visible light. We herein introduce for the first time a heterostructure of silver indium sulfide (AgInS
2
) ternary chalcogenide and a highly porous MIL-101(Cr) metal-organic framework (MOF) synthesised from polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste. Our results demonstrate that AgInS
2
nanoparticles were uniformly attached to each lattice plane of the octahedral MIL-101(Cr) structure, resulting in a nanocomposite with a high distribution of semiconductors in a porous media. We also demonstrate that the nanocomposite with up to 40% of AgInS
2
doping exhibited excellent catalytic activity for tetracycline degradation under visible light irradiation (∼99% tetracycline degraded after 4 h) and predominantly maintained its performance after five cycles. These results could promote a new material circularity pathway to develop new semiconductors that can be used to protect water from further pollution.
A photocatalyst with novel heterostructure (between AgInS2 and MIL-101(Cr)) derived from plastic waste was successfully synthesised for improved tetracycline degradation.