4.6 Article

Cu-functionalised porous boron nitride derived from a metal-organic framework

Journal

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
Volume 10, Issue 38, Pages 20580-20592

Publisher

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d2ta05515e

Keywords

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Funding

  1. European Research Council [850624]
  2. Armourers and Brasiers Company
  3. European Research Council (ERC) [850624] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)

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Study finds that metal-organic frameworks can serve as precursors for metal-functionalized porous boron nitride, expanding the potential of porous boron nitride in catalysis and optical applications. The type of metal in the MOF precursor also impacts the purity of the porous boron nitride.
Porous boron nitride (BN) displays promising properties for interfacial and bulk processes, e.g. molecular separation and storage, or (photo)catalysis. To maximise porous BN's potential in such applications, tuning and controlling its chemical and structural features is key. Functionalisation of porous BN with metal nanoparticle represents one possible route, albeit a hardly explored one. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely used as precursors to synthesise metal functionalised porous carbon-based materials, yet MOF-derived metal functionalised inorganic porous materials remain unexplored. Here, we hypothesise that MOFs could also serve as a platform to produce metal-functionalised porous BN. We have used a Cu-containing MOF, i.e. Cu/ZIF-8, as a precursor and successfully obtained porous BN functionalised with Cu nanoparticles (i.e. Cu/BN). While we have shown control of the Cu content, we have not yet demonstrated it for the nanoparticle size. The functionalisation has led to improved light harvesting and enhanced electron-hole separation, which have had a direct positive impact on the CO2 photoreduction activity (production formation rate 1.5 times higher than pristine BN and 12.5 times higher than g-C3N4). In addition, we have found that the metal in the MOF precursor impacts porous BN's purity. Unlike Cu/ZIF-8, a Co-containing ZIF-8 precursor led to porous C-BN (i.e. BN with a large amount of C in the structure). Overall, given the diversity of metals in MOFs, one could envision our approach as a method to produce a library of different metal functionalised porous BN samples.

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