Heterostructured multimetallic CoFe2O4@CeCuOx nanozyme from dual-MOF for efficient detection and degradation of hydroquinone

Abstract

The phenolic contaminants can severely affect human health and aquatic environment because of their high ecotoxicity and carcinogenic risk. Accordingly, the design and construction of MOF-based nanozymes with superior catalytic performance and high stability is indispensable for sensing and degradation of hydroquinone (HQ) in water. In this work, a novel dual-MOF composite precursor was fabricated by deposition a layer of FeCo-PBAs on CeCu-MOF nanosheets. Then the dual-MOF precursor comprising multiple metallic species Fe, Co, Ce, and Cu within the heterostructure was converted into quasi-dual-MOF (a multimetallic mixed-valence CoFe₂O₄@CeCuO_x composite) by low-temperature pyrolysis. The resulting CoFe₂O₄@CeCuO_x not just inherited exceptional properties of dual-MOF, but also greatly enhanced structural stability and robustness. More importantly, it showed improved peroxidase-like activity by synergistic effects and demonstrated outstanding performance for HQ detection with a wide linear range of 5–300 µM，a low detection limit of 0.458 µM. Further utilizing the peroxidase-like activity, CoFe₂O₄@CeCuO_x was used in activating H₂O₂ for HQ degradation with 98.3 % removal within 75 min. This work offers a novel avenue for the feasible design of highly active nanozymes for sensing and pollutant removal.