Strong-Base-Assisted Synthesis of a Crystalline Covalent Triazine Framework with High Hydrophilicity via Benzylamine Monomer for Photocatalytic Water Splitting

Methods to synthesize crystalline covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) are limited and little attention has been paid to development of hydrophilic CTFs and photocatalytic overall water splitting. A route to synthesize crystalline and hydrophilic CTF-HUST-A1 with a benzylamine-functionalized monomer is presented. The base reagent used plays an important role in the enhancement of crystallinity and hydrophilicity. CTF-HUST-A1 exhibits good crystallinity, excellent hydrophilicity, and excellent photocatalytic activity in sacrificial photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (hydrogen evolution rate up to 9200 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)). Photocatalytic overall water splitting is achieved by depositing dual co-catalysts in CTF-HUST-A1, with H-2 evolution and O-2 evolution rates of 25.4 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) and 12.9 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) in pure water without using sacrificial agent.