ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of new photocatalyst based on fe–benzenetricarboxylic (fe–btc) metal organic framework: characterization and photocatalytic properties

Fe–benzenetricarboxylic (fe–btc) synthesized by ultrasonic irradiation as a novel photocatalyst was investigated for degradation of methylene blue (mb) by uv/photocatalyst system. in this study, for the first time, a facile ultrasonic method was employed to prepare fe–btc. the effects of ultrasonic temperature (50 and 70 °c) and irradiation time (90 and 120 min) were investigated to get the optimum photocatalyst. synthesized fe–btc samples were characterized by ft-ir, pxrd, fesem, pl, bet analyses and uv–vis spectroscopy. the nanoparticles of the synthesized fe–btc obtained were smaller and more homogeneous than those previously reported. the synthesized fe–btc samples showed good photocatalytic performance. the fe–btc70–120 sample has shown the highest photocatalytic activity. the enhanced photocatalytic performance was related to two important factors which are the inhibition of the recombination process of the charge carriers and also the increase in the total surface area of the photocatalyst. the kinetics of degradation in this study has followed langmuir–hinshelwood pseudo-first-order theory. the fe–btc70–120 sample due to smaller particles and lower electron–hole recombination showed the highest photocatalytic degradation. the results of the mechanism showed the reactivity of hydroxyl radical (•oh) oxidation in methylene blue degradation. the stability test also showed the high stability of fe–btc70–120 sample for three cycles. photocatalytic degradation of mb by new photocatalyst fe–btc with high activity and recycling stability provide a new choice for wastewater treatment.