NH2-MIL-125(TO/graphitic carbon nitride heterostructure decorated with NiPd co-catalysts for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

In this study, a highly efficient photocatalyst,NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/g-C3N4/NiPd (NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/CN/NiPd), was successfully synthesized for photocatalytic water reduction to produce H-2. Under visible-light irradiation, the prepared NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/CN/NiPd composite clearly showed enhanced photocatalytic performance for H-2 evolution compared to NH2-MIL-125(Ti), NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/CN, and NH2-MIL125(Ti)/NiPd. The as-synthesized NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/0.75CN/Ni15.8Pd2.1 photocatalyst exhibited a high H-2 production rate of 8.7 mmol g(-1) h(-1), 322 and 1.3 times higher than those of NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/0.75CN and NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/Ni(15.8)Pd4.1, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the intimate interfacial contact between NH2-MIL-125(Ti) and CN, accelerating the charge transfer, as well as loaded NiPd nanoparticles, increasing the light-absorbing capacity and accelerating the charge transfer of NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/CN. This work demonstrates that the addition of appropriate co-catalysts onto MOF/CN hybrid with intimate contact interface provides a new approach to design highly efficient and solar-energy-harvesting photocatalysts. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.