In situ Construction of Single‐Atom Electronic Bridge on COF to Enhance Photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> Production
Jie Li, Jie Zhou, Xiaohan Wang, Can Guo, Run‐Han Li, Huifen Zhuang, Wen-hai Feng, Yingjie Hua, Ya‐Qian Lan
Abstract
Abstract Photocatalytic hydrogen production is one of the most valuable technologies in the future energy system. Here, we designed a metal‐covalent organic frameworks (MCOFs) with both small‐sized metal clusters and nitrogen‐rich ligands, named COF‐Cu 3 TG. Based on our design, small‐sized metal clusters were selected to increase the density of active sites and shorten the distance of electron transport to active sites. While another building block containing nitrogen‐rich organic ligands acted as a node that could in situ anchor metal atoms during photocatalysis and form interlayer single‐atom electron bridges (SAEB) to accelerate electron transport. Together, they promoted photocatalytic performance. This represented the further utilization of Ru atoms and was an additional application of the photosensitizer. N 2 ‐Ru‐N 2 electron bridge (Ru‐SAEB) was created in situ between the layers, resulting in a considerable enhancement in the hydrogen production rate of the photocatalyst to 10.47 mmol g −1 h −1 . Through theoretical calculation and EXAFS, the existence position and action mechanism of Ru‐SAEB were reasonably inferred, further confirming the rationality of the Ru‐SAEB configuration. A sufficiently proximity between the small‐sized Cu 3 cluster and the Ru‐SAEB was found to expedite electron transfer. This work demonstrated the synergistic impact of small molecular clusters with Ru‐SAEB for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production.