Titania Derived from NH₂-MIL-125(Ti) Metal–Organic Framework for Selective Photocatalytic Conversion of CO₂ to Propylene Carbonate

ABSTRACT

Titanium dioxide was prepared using titanium-based metal–organic framework (MOF) i.e., NH₂-MIL-125(Ti) as a metal precursor. NH₂-MIL-125(Ti) was synthesized then calcined at 400 °C, 500 °C, 550 °C, and 600 °C. The properties of NH₂-MIL-125(Ti) and produced TiO₂ were investigated using various techniques, including powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS). A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe surface morphology and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to analyze elemental composition of prepared samples. PXRD pattern confirms TiO₂ anatase phase formation when Ti-MOF was calcined up to 500 °C, whereas the formation of TiO₂ rutile phase at calcination temperature of 600 °C. The photocatalytic activities of produced TiO₂ photocatalysts were investigated for the cycloaddition reaction of CO₂ to propylene oxide.

KEYWORDS:

• NH₂-MIL-125(Ti)
• TiO₂
• band gap
• UV light
• photocatalyst

Acknowledgments

The financial support of this project was by the National Water and Energy Center (UAEU, Grant no. 31R238, Dr Ahmed Alzamly).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02603594.2022.2085692

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the United Arab Emirates University (National Water and Energy Center) [31R238].