MOFs Conferred with Transient Metal Centers for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Abstract Highly effective photocatalysts for the hydrogen‐evolution reaction were developed by conferring the linkers of NH 2 ‐MIL‐125(Ti), a metal–organic framework (MOF) constructed from TiO x clusters and 2‐aminoterephthalic acid (linkers), with active copper centers. This design enables effective transfer of electrons from the linkers to the transient Cu 2+ /Cu + centers, leading to 7000‐fold and 27‐fold increase of carrier density and lifetime of photogenerated charges, respectively, as well as high‐rate production of H 2 under visible‐light irradiation. This work provides a novel design of a photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution using non‐noble Cu 2+ /Cu + as co‐catalysts.