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

In this study, a highly efficient photocatalyst, NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/g-C 3 N 4 /NiPd (NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/CN/NiPd), was successfully synthesized for photocatalytic water reduction to produce H 2 . Under visible-light irradiation, the prepared NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/CN/NiPd composite clearly showed enhanced photocatalytic performance for H 2 evolution compared to NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti), NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/CN, and NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/NiPd. The as-synthesized NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/0.75CN/Ni 15.8 Pd 2.1 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 NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/0.75CN and NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)/Ni 15.8 Pd 4.1 , respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the intimate interfacial contact between NH 2 -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 NH 2 -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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]