Design of Single‐Site Photocatalysts by Using Metal–Organic Frameworks as a Matrix

Abstract

Single-site photocatalysts generally display excellent photocatalytic activity and considerably high stability compared with homogeneous catalytic systems. A rational structural design of single-site photocatalysts with isolated, uniform, and spatially separated active sites in a given solid is of prime importance to achieve high photocatalytic activity. Intense attention has been focused on the design and fabrication of single-site photocatalysts by using porous materials as a platform. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have great potential in the design and fabrication of single-site photocatalysts due to their remarkable porosity, ultrahigh surface area, extraordinary tailorability, and significant diversity. MOFs can provide an abundant number of binding sites to anchor active sites, which results in a significant enhancement in photocatalytic performance. In this focus review, the development of single-site MOF photocatalysts that perform important and challenging chemical redox reactions, such as photocatalytic H production, photocatalytic CO conversion, and organic transformations, is summarized thoroughly. Successful strategies for the construction of single-site MOF photocatalysts are summarized and major challenges in their practical applications are noted.

A Review of MOFs and Their Composites‐Based Photocatalysts: Synthesis and Applications

“…Nowadays, NH 3 production by photocatalytic nitrogen reduction has attracted great research interest due to low cost and environmental‐friendliness. [ 309–311 ] Among many functional materials, MOFs and their composites‐based photocatalysts draw much attention in photocatalytic NRR since their good light‐harvesting ability and unique porous structure. [ 312–314 ]…”

Metal–organic framework-based nanomaterials for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of gaseous pollutants: recent progress and challenges

“…The photogenerated charges subsequently transfer to the surface of the metal oxide cluster to take part in photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs, and the charge transfer pathways are various based on the composition of the MOFs. [144][145][146] Most of the charge-transfer pathways are based on ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT); in addition to the LMCT mechanism, ligand-to-ligand transfer, metal-toligand charge transfer, and metal-to-metal-to-ligand charge transfer mechanisms have also been proposed in various photocatalytic reactions. 144 As discussed above, the open metal sites of MOFs play an important role in the adsorption of toxic gases via various interactions between the open metal sites of the MOF and toxic gas.…”

Strategies for Improving the Performance and Application of MOFs Photocatalysts

“…[88][89][90] Because of their large surface area, it is beneficial to the adsorption of reactants, facilitating catalytic reactions. MOFs as photocatalysts also show great prospects in various applications, such as hydrogen evolution, [91][92][93][94][95][96] pollutants degradation, [97][98][99][100] CO 2 reduction, [101][102][103][104][105] and organic conversion. [106][107][108] So far, there are reviews on MOFs photocatalysts, [109][110][111][112][113][114] focusing on the role of MOFs in photocatalysis, which is defined as a photocatalyst or cocatalyst.…”

“…Because of their large surface area, it is beneficial to the adsorption of reactants, facilitating catalytic reactions. MOFs as photocatalysts also show great prospects in various applications, such as hydrogen evolution, pollutants degradation, CO 2 reduction, and organic conversion …”