Silver chromate doped Ti-based metal organic framework: synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical and selective photocatalytic reduction properties

Abstract

Photo-induced reduction plays a remarkable role in the preparation of aniline from nitrobenzene. The challenges of this method are the selectivity of the products and irradiation sources. So, organic compound transformations induced by visible light have received enormous attention due to their lower cost, and better safety for environmental applications. Here, aniline compounds were prepared with Ag₂CrO₄, NH₂-MIL-125, and Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocatalysts. The Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocatalysts were prepared by a controlled room temperature deposition technique. The effects of catalyst composition, time, and nitrobenzene concentration on reaction performance have been systematically elaborated. Under the ideal reaction setup, aniline with high yield was obtained from nitrobenzene, and the conversion percent of Ag₂CrO₄, NH₂-MIL-125, and Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 was 22%, 48%, and 97.8%, respectively. The recycling of the photocatalyst showed excellent performance for five regenerations. The mechanism of the photoreduction process has been proposed based on the reactivity and kinetics of the reaction. The kinetic rate of Ag₂CrO₄, NH₂-MIL-125, and Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 was 0.01603, 0.1416 and 0.5199 min⁻¹, respectively. The electrochemical performance of the Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocatalyst was studied. The cyclic voltammetry, charge–discharge performance of Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 were elaborated. Amazing improvement was shown in the performance of Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 compared to the original NH₂-MIL-125. Additionally, Ag₂CrO₄@NH₂-MIL-125 displayed a specific capacitance of 103.12 F g⁻¹ at current density of 1 A g⁻¹.