MOFs Conferred with Transient Metal Centers for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity
Xiaolang Chen, Shuning Xiao, Hao Wang, Wenchao Wang, Yong Cai, Guisheng Li, Minghua Qiao, Jian Zhu, Hexing Li, Dieqing Zhang, Yunfeng Lu
Abstract
Abstract Highly effective photocatalysts for the hydrogen‐evolution reaction were developed by conferring the linkers of NH 2 ‐MIL‐125(Ti), a metal–organic framework (MOF) constructed from TiO x clusters and 2‐aminoterephthalic acid (linkers), with active copper centers. This design enables effective transfer of electrons from the linkers to the transient Cu 2+ /Cu + centers, leading to 7000‐fold and 27‐fold increase of carrier density and lifetime of photogenerated charges, respectively, as well as high‐rate production of H 2 under visible‐light irradiation. This work provides a novel design of a photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution using non‐noble Cu 2+ /Cu + as co‐catalysts.