Recent developments of Fe-based metal-organic frameworks and their composites in photocatalytic applications: fundamentals, synthesis and challenges

Nowadays, the use of efficient nanomaterials in the photocatalytic applications are highly demanded to maximize the utilization of solar light energy for sustainable fuel production and environmental remediation. Recently, there has been a growing research on the use of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials as photocatalysts owing to their unique structures and optoelectronic properties. Among these MOF materials, Fe-based MOF photocatalysts have attracted much attention in all fields of photocatalysis due to the presence of extensive iron–oxo (Fe–O) clusters which increase the visible light harvesting. Moreover, iron is considered as one of the low-cost and earth-abundant metals. In this mini-review, the recent developments in Fe-based MOF synthesis techniques with their major photocatalytic applications in oxygen production, hydrogen production, CO₂ reduction and pollutant photodegradation are summarized and deliberately explained. Finally, the main challenges regarding the Fe-based MOF photocatalysis with the future recommendations are addressed
The bibliography includes 175 references.