Metal‐Organic Framework Derived Terephthalate Ligand Decorated TiO<sub>2</sub> with Various Morphologies for Efficient Photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> Evolution
Pengyu Dong, Kangjie Gao, Kang Li, Haoyu Wang, Xinguo Xi, Pingyun Feng
Abstract
Abstract It has been rarely reported the morphological control of derivatives of metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) in hydrothermal conditions for photocatalytic applications. We report here a family of highly efficient composite photocatalysts composed of terephthalic acid/terephthalate (TPA) ligand and TiO 2 with various morphologies (e. g., nanoparticles, nanosheets, and nanorods). The composites are synthesized by a simple one‐step hydrothermal method in various solvents (i. e., H 2 O, HF, H 2 SO 4 , HCl, and HNO 3 ) using Ti‐based MOF (MIL‐125(Ti)) as precursor. The formation mechanism of composite materials with different morphological features is discussed. Impressively, the composite of TiO 2 nanoparticles/TPA synthesized using H 2 O as solvent under hydrothermal condition exhibits the highest photocatalytic H 2 activity among the studied materials, with a photocatalytic H 2 production rate of 6.38 mmol g −1 h −1 , which is approximately 7.5‐fold higher than pure TiO 2 (Degussa, P25) and prominent apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 65 % at 365 nm. Furthermore, the mechanism of boosted photocatalytic H 2 production is discussed.