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 Dysprosiumorganic framework was prepared by a hydrothermal reaction. The prepared MOF was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface area analysis and Xray powder diffraction (XRD). Herein, DyMOF was used as a Lewis acid heterogeneous catalyst for sulfoxidation and as a precursor for the formation of microscale Dy2O3 particles. Based on the spectroscopic and microscopic analysis, DyMOF 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 welldefined (uniform) morphology.