Dysprosium-Organic Framework as Heterogeneous Lewis acid Catalysis for Sulfide Oxidation and as precursor for synthesis of Dy2O3

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of hybrid porous materials made up of inorganic clusters connected with organic linkers, offering many opportunities for applications in different areas from catalysis to magnetism. A Dysprosium-organic framework was prepared by a hydrothermal reaction. The prepared MOF was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface area analysis and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Herein, Dy-MOF was used as a Lewis acid heterogeneous catalyst for sulfoxidation and as a precursor for the formation of micro-scale Dy2O3 particles. Based on the spectroscopic and microscopic analysis, Dy-MOF can catalyze the sulfide oxidation reaction to sulfoxide and the framework remains intact after the catalytic reaction. Also, the crystals of Dy-MOF turn into particles of Dy2O3 when heated at 650 °C in the air . This result suggests an approach for the formation of dysprosium oxide with  a well-defined (uniform) morphology.