Water-Insoluble Heterometal-Oxide-Based Photocatalysts Effective for the Photo-Decomposition of Methyl Orange

Two water-insoluble isostructural inorganic–organic hybrid materials, [M(pytpy) 2 Mo 4 O 13 ] ∞ (M = Cu 1, Ni 2, pytpy = 4′-(4-pyridyl)-4,2′:6′,4″-terpyridine), have been prepared by in situ formation of the Mo 4 O 13 2– clusters from the decomposition of H 3 PMo 12 under hydrothermal conditions. Both of the two complexes display three-dimensional (3D) “pillar-layer” frameworks based on bimetal-oxide layers pillared by the pytpy ligands. Topological analysis revealed that two 3D frameworks can be simplified into (3,4,4)-connected (4 2 .6 2 .8 3 ) 2 (4.6 2 ) 2 (4 4 .10 2 ) and (3,5,6)-connected (4 2 .6) 2 (4 4 .6 6 ) 2 (4 4 .6 8 .8 3 ) topologies with the metal ions as nodes, respectively. Importantly, good photocatalytic activities were observed for both complexes in the photodecomposition of methyl orange (MO) solution under UV light irradiation.