TiO₂@ZIF-8: A novel approach of modifying micro-environment for enhanced photo-catalytic dye degradation and high usability of TiO₂ nanoparticles

For the first time commercially obtained TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully encapsulated in zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) through in situ incorporation. Synthesized TiO₂@ZIF-8 composite was found to have high thermal stability and retained same hexagonal morphology of ZIF-8 as supported by powder crystal X-ray diffraction pattern. The composite (TiO₂@ZIF-8) has higher photo-catalytic activity than TiO₂ NPs for the degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine-B, and it retained high catalytic efficiency even after the fifth catalytic cycle. This study suggests a promising approach towards the heterogeneous photo-catalytic dye degradation technique using ZIF-8 as the catalytic host for long known photo-catalyst TiO₂ NPs.