Dr. Jin Shang group published an edge article in Chemical Science

Harvesting sunlight to address energy and environmental challenges has been fascinating and long sought-after in building a sustainable society. One tangible example is the maintenance of cleaner indoor environment by degrading air pollutants via photocatalysis. The key to an efficient and effective photocatalytic process is the design and development of good photocatalysts which represents a hot research area. Dr. Jin Shang Group in School of Energy and Environment has contributed to this endeavour and some recent results were published as back cover in the Flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry – Chemical Science. In an edge article entitled “Isocyanate Group-Functionalized Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8) for Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Gaseous Formaldehyde”, a facile thermal treatment strategy is initiated to convert one of the most well-known porous metal-organic framework, i.e., ZIF-8, to visible light driven photocatalyst exhibiting excellent performance in formaldehyde degradation. This strategy could unleash the potential of the design and development of MOF-based photocatalysts with broad-spectrum responses for efficient air purification operations. Given a myriad of porous MOFs created and documented by chemists in the past 30 years, this work may unlock a new toolbox for scientists and engineers in the field of photocatalysis to explore and develop next-generation photocatalysts.