BACKGROUND MIL101(Fe) has attracted growing attention as a potential new photocatalyst. However, the drawbacks of easy recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs result in unsatisfactory activity. RESULTS In this work, to enhance the photocatalytic activity of MIL101(Fe), CeO2 nanorods were attached on the surface of octahedral MIL101(Fe) to obtain a novel 1D/3D heterojunction CeO2/MIL101(Fe). The as‐synthesized samples were characterized by a series of methods. The photocatalytic activity of CeO2/MIL101(Fe) was investigated by photodegradation of tetracycline under visible‐light irradiation. Compared with pristine CeO2 and MIL101(Fe), the as‐prepared CeO2/MIL101(Fe) composite with CeO2 content of 10 wt% exhibited a superior photocatalytic activity, with a tetracycline (TC) degradation efficiency of 83.5% and a TOC removal rate of 55.7% within 120 min. CONCLUSION The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to the efficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers resulting from the formation of type‐II heterojunction between CeO2 and MIL101(Fe). This work provides a new approach for the fabrication of MOF‐based photocatalysts with high activity. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

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Improving the photocatalytic performance of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is an important way to expand its potential applications. In this work, zero-dimensional (0D) Bi2O3 nanoparticles were anchored to the surface of tridimensional (3D) MIL101(Fe) by a facile solvothermal method to obtain a novel 0D/3D heterojunction Bi2O3/MIL101(Fe) (BOM). The morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared Bi2O3/MIL101(Fe) composite were characterized. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized samples was evaluated by degrading chlortetracycline (CTC) under visible-light irradiation. The obtained BOM-20 composite (20 wt % Bi2O3/MIL101(Fe)) exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity with CTC degradation efficiency of 88.2% within 120 min. The degradation rate constant of BOM-20 toward CTC is 0.01348 min−1, which is 5.9 and 4.3 times higher than that of pristine Bi2O3 and MIL101(Fe), respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction between Bi2O3 and MIL101(Fe), which is conducive to the rapid separation of photogenerated carriers and the enhancement of photogenerated electron and hole redox capacity. The intermediate products were analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), and a possible photocatalytic degradation path of CTC was proposed. This work provides a new perspective for the preparation of efficient MOF-based photocatalysts.