Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much interest in the fields of gas separation and storage, catalysis synthesis, nonlinear optics, sensors, luminescence, magnetism, photocatalysis gradation and crystal engineering because of their diverse properties and intriguing topologies. A Cu-MOF, namely poly[[(μ2-succinato-κ2O:O'){μ2-tris[4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]amine-κ2N:N'}copper(II)] dihydrate], {[Cu(C4H4O4)(C24H18N10)]·2H2O}n or {[Cu(suc)(ttpa)]·2H2O}n, (I), was synthesized by the hydrothermal method using tris[4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]amine (ttpa) and succinate (suc2-), and characterized by IR, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), luminescence, optical band gap and valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (VB XPS). Cu-MOF (I) shows a twofold interpenetrating 4-coordinated three-dimensional CdSO4 topology with point symbol {65·8}. It presents good photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation. A photocatalytic mechanism was proposed and confirmed.
Keywords: 4-coordinated network; Cu–MOF; VB XPS spectra; crystal structure; methylene blue; optical band gap; photocatalytic degradation; photocatalytic mechanism; rhodamine B; succinate; three-dimensional coordination polymer; topological analysis; tris[4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]amine.