Zr‐Based Metal‐Organic Framework Films Grown on Bio‐Template for Photoelectrocatalysis

Abstract

A series of Zr-based metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF) films are anchored on the surface of butterfly wing via solvothermal method for HER application, including UiO-66, NH 2-UiO-66 and UiO-67. Oriented nanoparticles are anchored on the photonic crystal bio-template. The distinctive design of the Zr-MOFs/B composites enables remarkable photoelectrocatalytic HER activity in comparison with corresponding intrinsic Zr-MOFs, primarily due to the synergy effect between MOFs and the photonic crystal. The cathode current increases to 1.94, 0.98 and 3.64 mA cm À 2 for UiO-66/B, NH 2-UiO-66/B and UiO-67/B, respectively, at an overpotential of À 0.6 V vs RHE when irradiated for 30 min upon simulated sunlight. Upon simulated sunlight irradiation, the carrier density increases by 2.00, 1.26 and 1.48 times for UiO-66/B, NH 2-UiO-66/B and UiO-67/B, respectively. This work paves a promising pathway for designing efficient HER electrocatalysts by combination of Zr-MOFs and photo-active butterfly wings.

Metal–organic frameworks on versatile substrates

“…Textile bers are exible, breathable, and affordable and have been widely recognized as one of the advantageous supports for MOF fabrication. Textile bers, including cotton fabric, [277][278][279][280][281][282][283][284][285][286][287][288] paper, [289][290][291][292][293] biomass materials such as wood, [294][295][296][297] and textile cellulose, [298][299][300][301][302][303][304][305][306][307][308][309] are widely reported. For instance, Manos et al obtained cotton fabric, which was pre-functionalized with PDA, providing catechol units for the strong bonding of MIL-53 on a cotton surface.…”

Gyroid‐Structured Au Materials with 3D Interconnected Networks for Highly Efficient Heat Localization and Solar Vapor Generation

“…[ 54 ] The variations in the structures of wing scales have been classified into five different structural groups as below, S1: unspecialized microstructure, S2: ridge‐specialized microstructure, S3: windows with porous lumen microstructures, S4: body‐lamellae microstructure, and S5: 3D photonic crystal structures. [ 55 ] It has been proved that the butterfly wings can be used as biotemplates, [ 56 ] and are versatile for surface enhanced Raman scattering detection, [ 57 ] photocatalysis, [ 58 ] photoelectrocatalysis, [ 59 ] magnetic–optical modulation, [ 60 ] and control of light propagation, [ 61 ] in virtue to the coupling effect of the NPs and the functional structure of the templates. Therefore, butterfly wings with different 3D hierarchical structures are suitable biotemplates to fabricate solar steam generators, which have intense micro‐/nanochannels for water transport, strong light absorption, light‐matter interactions, as well as confinement effect.…”