Dual Metal UiO-Type Metal-Organic Frameworks for Solar-Driven Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

The development of low-cost, high-performance, and stable photocatalytic materials is vital to achieving highly efficient solarto-fuel conversion. We report the fabrication of a metal-doped Zr-UiO-66-NH2 ((M/Zr)-UiO-66-NH2) catalyst using a one-pot hydrothermal method via a single-step reaction. The optimized 0.5(Co/Zr)-UiO-66-NH2, 0.5(Ni/Zr)-UiO-66-NH2, and 0.5(Fe/Zr)-UiO-66-NH2 photocatalysts exhibit significant hydrogen evolution performance approximately 35.22, 13.84, and 1.58 times higher than Zr-UiO-66-NH2 under simulated solar light. The enhanced hydrogen production efficiency can be ascribed to the metal-to-metal charge-transfer excitation between Co (Fe or Ni) and Zr species and the improved light harvest. Their cooperating function favors the excitation and separation of photo-generated carriers, which leads to a marked increase in catalytic activity.

Automated summary

Metal-doped Zr-UiO-66-NH2 catalysts exhibit significant hydrogen evolution performance under simulated solar light, attributed to the metal-to-metal charge-transfer excitation and improved light harvest.