Covalently Coupled Carbon Dot/MOF Composite

Enhanced Interfacial Charge Transfer

Compared to physical mixing, covalent coupling significantly enhances interfacial charge separation, leading to improved visible-light photocatalytic antibacterial activity.

Xueting, Bi · Qin, Jiang · Yue, Ma · Junjie, Xing · Zhou, Ziyan · Zhang, Xuejie · Li, Wei · Lei, Bingfu · Zhang, Haoran

Chemical Engineering Journal 2026

Advantages

More efficient charge separation

Covalent coupling promotes interfacial charge transfer from MOF to carbon dots, leading to stronger PL quenching and prolonged carrier lifetime.

Enhanced ROS generation

Efficient charge separation leads to markedly enhanced reactive oxygen species generation under visible-light irradiation compared to pristine MOF and physically mixed composite.

Rapid photocatalytic inactivation

Thanks to abundant ROS, the covalently coupled composite rapidly inactivates S. aureus under visible light.

Applications

• Photocatalytic Antibacterial：Rapidly inactivates S. aureus under visible light for air and water purification.
• Reactive Oxygen Species Generation：Covalent interface promotes charge transfer and boosts ROS production for efficient sterilization.
• Antibacterial Materials：Can be directly dispersed in water or coatings to create photocatalytic antibacterial surfaces.