Aggregation-induced photocatalytic activity and efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of amphiphilic rhodamines in water

The development of photocatalysts is an essential task for clean energy generation and establishing a sustainable society. This paper describes the aggregation-induced photocatalytic activity (AI-PCA) of amphiphilic rhodamines and photocatalytic functions of the supramolecular assemblies. The supramolecular assemblies consisting of amphiphilic rhodamines with octadecyl alkyl chains exhibited significant photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation in water, while the corresponding monomeric rhodamines did not exhibit photocatalytic activity. The studies on the photocatalytic mechanism by spectroscopic and microscopic analyses clearly demonstrated the AI-PCA of the rhodamines. Moreover, the supramolecular assemblies of the rhodamines exhibited excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rates (up to 5.9 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹).

Simple amphiphilic rhodamines formed supramolecular assemblies and exhibited aggregation-induced photocatalytic activity and hydrogen evolution in water.     

单分散Ni簇锚定在CN上用于高效光催化析氢

利用太阳光在常温常压下驱动光催化反应高效进行是解决人类面临的能源、环境问题从而实现绿色化学的理想方案之一.然而,兼顾效率、成本和稳定性的高性能光催化体系的研究依然存在巨大的挑战.石墨氮化碳(g-C3N4)基光催化剂由于高稳定性、无毒无害和适合的能带结构,在光催化制氢方面存在巨大潜力.然而,表面的慢反应速率导致了光生电子...     

Anchoring cobalt single atoms on 2D covalent triazine framework with charge nanospatial separation for enhanced photocatalytic pollution degradation

Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) show great potential in photocatalytic fields, while their practical efficiency is still limited due to rapid charge recombination. Here we report a nanospatial separation strategy for photoinduced electron-hole pairs of CTF-1 nanosheets via single-atom Co using facile pyrolysis and phosphorization to form stable Co–N₃ (≈1.60 Å) architecture. HAADF-STEM image demonstrates Co atoms are uniformly dispersed onto ultrathin CTF-1. The local structure surrounding and chemical valent state of Co are systematically investigated by Fourier-transformed EXAFS and K-edge XANES, respectively. Co single atoms as oxidation centers can capture holes transferred from CTF-1, thus resulting in narrow bandgap and improved photo-exciton dissociation in the two-dimensional (2D) direction. The obtained Co/CTF-1 exhibits excellent efficiency of 99.9% for pollutant photodegradation, far outperforming that of pristine CTF-1 (68.8%). Nanospatial separation endows Co/CTF-1 with various micropollution removal capabilities, outstanding cyclic stability, and a widely effective pH range (1.0–11.0) under visible light. Furthermore, active oxidating radicals of h⁺ and ?O₂^? are dominant in photocatalytic degradation for various organic contaminants. This study motivates the atomic design and fabrication of 2D photocatalysts with excellent charge nanospatial separation.     

Efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution without an electron mediator using a simple electron donor-acceptor dyad

A highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution system without an electron mediator such as methyl viologen (MV(2+)) has been constructed using 9-mesityl-10-methylacridinium ion (Acr(+)-Mes), poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)-protected platinum nanoclusters (Pt-PVP) and NADH (beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced form) as the photocatalyst, hydrogen evolution catalyst and electron donor, respectively. The photocatalyst (Acr(+)-Mes) undergoes photoinduced electron transfer (ET) from the Mes moiety to the singlet excited state of the Acr(+) moiety to produce an extremely long-lived ET state, which is capable of oxidizing NADH and reducing Pt-PVP, leading to efficient hydrogen evolution. The hydrogen evolution efficiency is 300 times higher than that in the presence of MV(2+) because of the much faster reduction rate of Pt-PVP by Acr(*)-Mes compared with that by MV(*+). When the electron donor (NADH) is replaced by ethanol in the presence of an alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), NADH is regenerated during the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.     

Porphyrin covalent organic framework for photocatalytic synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines

A metal-free porphyrin covalent organic framework was employed as the heterogeneous photocatalyst for the synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines under aerobic conditions. With visible light irradiation of a catalytic amount of H₂P-Bph-COF at room temperature, various substituted N,N-dimethylanilines and N-aryl maleimides were transformed to tetrahydroquinoline derivatives in moderate to good yields. This was the first example of the synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines via the photocatalytic aerobic annulation reaction employing the metal-free COF as the heterogeneous photocatalyst.     

Engineering of SnO2/TiO2 heterojunction compact interface with efficient charge transfer pathway for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Fabricating an efficient charge transfer pathway at the compact interface between two kinds of semiconductors is an important strategy for designing hydrogen production heterojunction photocatalysts. In this work, we prepared a compact, stable and oxygen vacancy-rich photocatalyst (SnO₂/TiO₂ heterostructure) via a simple and reasonable in-situ synthesis method. Briefly, SnCl₂–2H₂O is hydrolyzed on the TiO₂ precursor. After the pyrolysis process, SnO₂ nanoparticles (5 nm) were dispersed on the surface of ultrathin TiO₂ nanosheets uniformly. Herein, the heterojunction system can offer abundant oxygen vacancies, which can act as active sites for catalytic reactions. Meanwhile, the interfacial contact of SnO₂/TiO₂ grading semiconductor oxide is uniform and tight, which can promote the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers. As shown in the experimental results, the hydrogen production rate of SnO₂/TiO₂ is 16.7 mmol h^?1 g^?1 (4.4 times higher than that of TiO₂), which is owing to its good dynamical properties. This work demonstrates an efficient strategy of tight combining SnO₂/TiO₂ with abundant oxygen vacancies to improve catalytic efficiency.     

Viologen-modified platinum clusters acting as an efficient catalyst in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

A highly efficient photocatalytic system for hydrogen evolution with dihydronicotinamide coenzyme (NADH) as a sacrificial agent in an aqueous solution has been constructed by using water-soluble platinum clusters functionalized with methyl viologen-alkanethiol (MVA2+) and a simple electron-donor dyad, 9-mesityl-10-methylacridinium ion (Acr+-Mes), which is capable of fast photoinduced electron transfer but extremely slow back electron transfer. The mean diameter of the platinum core was determined as R(CORE) = 1.9 nm with a standard deviation sigma = 0.5 nm by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As a result, the hydrogen-evolution rate of the photocatalytic system with MVA2+-modified platinum clusters (MVA2+-PtC) is 10 times faster than the photocatalytic system with the mixture of the same amount of MVA2+ and platinum clusters as that of MVA2+-PtC under otherwise the same experimental conditions. The radical cation of NADH has been successfully detected by laser flash photolysis experiments. The decay of the absorbance due to NAD*, produced by the deprotonation from NADH*+, coincides with the appearance of the absorption band due to Acr*-Mes. This indicates electron transfer from NAD* to Acr+-Mes to give Acr*-Mes, which undergoes the electron-transfer reduction of MVA2+-PtC, leading to the efficient hydrogen evolution.     

高效稳定的Al~(3+)偶联多层Eosin Y敏化TiO_2光催化制氢体系研究

通过Al3+偶联制备了多层EosinY敏化的TiO2催化剂,其光催化制氢性能优于Fe3+偶联的催化剂.在水体系、甲醇-水体系中,以三乙醇胺(TEOA)作电子给体,采用原位载Pt,考察了催化剂在可见光(λ420nm)下的制氢活性与稳定性.结果表明,含水0.5%(体积分数)的体系、载铂量为1.0%时,显示了较高的活性和良好的稳定性,20h的平均量子效率为20.5%,转换数为220.较高的活性和稳定性初步归结于Al3+水解趋势较Fe3+小,且催化剂在甲醇中比在水中更稳定,进一步的研究正在进行中.     

In situ growth of polyoxometalate-based metal-organic framework nanoflower arrays for efficient hydrogen evolution

The conversion of traditional polymolybdate-based metal-organic frameworks (POMOFs) crystals to well-aligned nanoarrays are highly attractive for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution but remains significant challenge. Herein, we demonstrated that the POMOFs nanoarrays as self-supported electrode toward hydrogen evolution with high catalytic activity and stability. Single-crystal X-ray analysis reveal the {ε-PMo^V₈Mo^VI₄O₃₇Zn₄} (Zn-ε-Keggin) serve as secondary building blocks and directly connected to BPB organic ligands (BPB = 1,4-bis(pyrid-4-yl)benzene) to obtain novel [ε-PMo^V₈Mo^VI₄O₃₇(OH)₃Zn₄][BPB]₃ (named as ZnMo-POMOF). Particularly, ZnMo-POMOF nanoflower arrays grown in-situ on a Ni foam substrate exhibiting excellent electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of 180 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm² with the Tafel slope of 66 mV/dec, thus among one of the best POMOF-based electrocatalysts reported so far. DFT calculations reveal that the bridging oxygen active sites (O_a) significantly optimizes Gibbs free energy of H* adsorption for Zn-ε-Keggin polymolybdate units (?0.07 eV), thereby increasing the intrinsic activity of the ZnMo-POMOF.     

Cobalt-containing covalent organic frameworks for visible light-driven hydrogen evolution

Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) have recently emerged as a new class of photocatalysts.However,integrated design is crucial to maximizing the performance of COF-incorporating photocatalytic systems.Herein,we compare two strategies of installing earth-abundant metal-based catalytic centers into the matrice of a 2 D COF named NUS-55.Compared to NUS-55(Co)prepared from the post-synthetic metalation of coordination sites within the COF,the molecular co-catalyst impregnated NUS-55/[Co(bpy)3]Cl2 achieves a seven-fold improvement in visible light-driven H2 evolution rate to 2,480 μmol g^-1h^-1,with an apparent quantum efficiency(AQE) of 1.55% at 450 nm.Our results show that the rational design of molecular anchoring sites in COFs for the introduction of catalytic metal sites can be a viable strategy for the development of highly efficient photocatalysts with enhanced stability and photocatalytic activities.     

Solvothermal synthesis of covalent triazine framework and its application in photodegradation of organic dyes

Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have recently attracted increasing attention in various fields. However, it is still challenging to prepare CTFs with good crystallinity via an efficient approach under mild conditions. This work offered a useful protocol based on a homogeneous solvothermal monomer/catalyst/solvent system for the preparation of crystalline CTFs, directly from several nitrile-containing monomers. The synthesized CTFs were featured with good crystallinity and high thermal stability. Finally, an afforded CTF material was applied as a photocatalyst for the degradation of Rhodamine B with excellent performance. Meanwhile, the CTF material was found to be chemically stable after the photocatalytic reaction.     

Construction of high-efficiency CoS@Nb2O5 heterojunctions accelerating charge transfer for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The random movement and easy recombination of photoinduced charges lead to a low conversion efficiency for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The cocatalyst design is a promising route to address such problem through introducing an appropriate cocatalyst on the semiconductor photocatalysts to construct the high-efficiency heterojunctions. Herein, novel CoS/Nb₂O₅ heterojunctions were constructed via in-situ loading CoS cocatalyst on the surface of Nb₂O₅ nanosheets. Through the femtosecond-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, the average lifetime of charge carriers for 10 wt% CoS/Nb₂O₅ (159.6 ps) is drastically shortened by contrast with that of Nb₂O₅ (5531.9 ps), strongly suggesting the rapid charge transfer from Nb₂O₅ to CoS. The significantly improved charge-transfer capacity contributes to a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 355 µmol/h, up to 17.5 times compared with pristine Nb₂O₅. This work would provide a new design platform in the construction of photocatalytic heterojunctions with high charge-transfer efficiency.     

sp2 carbon-conjugated covalent organic frameworks for efficient photocatalytic degradation and visualized pH detection

The design and fabrication of versatile covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with multiple properties for diverse applications is highly desirable. Here, the difunctional COFs material g–C₁₈N₃–COF was prepared and modified to be applied for efficient photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and pH detection, respectively. Owing to the triazine unit which was suitable for photocatalyst construction, g–C₁₈N₃–COF was sensitive to visible light and exhibited excellent photocatalysis capability toward RhB. Specially, the photocatalytic degradation of RhB with a high concentration of 300 ppm using g–C₁₈N₃–COF reached equilibrium within 6 h. Moreover, g–C₁₈N₃–COF was further grown in-situ onto the filter paper to generate a novel composite material g–C₁₈N₃–COF@Paper with bright yellow fluorescence. g–C₁₈N₃–COF@Paper could visualize the pH detection by remarkable changes in its fluorescent intensity and color in the range of pH value from 1 to 5, on account of the protonation of the nitrogen atoms from the triazine ring in g–C₁₈N₃–COF. The triazine-based sp² carbon-conjugated g–C₁₈N₃–COF, respectively, used as photocatalyst and sensor in this work offers a new strategy to construct the versatile COFs material, facilitating the application of functional COFs in the environmental protection field.     

Cu-clusters nodes of 2D metal-organic frameworks as a cost-effective noble-metal-free cocatalyst with high atom-utilization efficiency for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Several 2D nanosheets of porphyrin MOFs with various transition-metal clusters as metal nodes were prepared via a simple solvothermal method to apply in the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution,in which the hydrogen production rate of the optimal NS-Cu was as high as 15.39 mmol g^-1h^-1.A series of experimental technologies especially cyclic voltammetry （CV） and Mott-Schottky （M-S） had been adopted to investigate the charge-transfer property of photo-generated electron-hole pair...     

Hydrazine-hydrothermal method to synthesize three-dimensional chalcogenide framework for photocatalytic hydrogen generation

A novel chalcogenide, [Mn₂Sb₂S₅(N₂H₄)₃] (1), has been synthesized by the hydrazine-hydrothermal method. X-ray crystallography study reveals that the new compound 1 crystallizes in space group P1? (no. 2) of the triclinic system. The structure features an open neutral three-dimensional framework, where two-dimensional mesh-like inorganic layers are bridged by intra- and inter-layer hydrazine ligands. Both two Mn1 and Mn2 sites adopt distorted octahedral coordination. While two Sb1 and Sb2 sites exhibit two different coordination geometries, the Sb1 site is coordinated with three S atoms to generate a SbS₃ trigonal-pyramidal geometry, and the Sb2 site adopts a SbS₄ trigonal bipyramidal coordination geometry. It has an optical band gap of about ∼2.09 eV, which was deduced from the diffuse reflectance spectrum, and displays photocatalytic behaviors under visible light irradiation. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show compound 1 obeys the Curie-Weiss law in the range of 50-300 K.     

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution based on efficient energy and electron transfers in donor-bridge-acceptor multibranched-porphyrin-functionalized platinum nanocomposites

Two donor-bridge-acceptor conjugates (5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(N,N-diphenylaminobenzoate)phenyl] porphyrin (TPPZ) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(N,N-diphenylaminostyryl)phenyl] porphyrin (TPPX)) were covalently linked to triphenylamine (TPA) at the meso-position of porphyrin ring. The triphenylamine entities were expected to act as energy donors and the porphyrins to act as an energy acceptor. In this paper, we report on the synthesis of these multibranched-porphyrin-functionalized Pt nanocomposites. The conjugates used here not only served as a stabilizer to prevent agglomeration of Pt nanoparticles, but also as a light-harvesting photosensitizer. The occurrence of photoinduced electron-transfer processes was confirmed by time-resolved fluorescence and photoelectrochemical spectral measurements. The different efficiencies for energy and electron transfer in the two multibranched porphyrins and the functionalized Pt nanocomposites were attributed to diverse covalent linkages. Moreover, in the reduction of water to produce H(2), the photocatalytic activity of the Pt nanocomposite functionalized by TPPX, in which the triphenylamine and porphyrin moieties are bonded through an ethylene bridge, was much higher than that of the platinum nanocomposite functionalized by TPPZ, in which the two moieties are bonded through an ester. This investigation demonstrates the fundamental advantages of constructing donor-bridge-acceptor conjugates as highly efficient photosensitizers based on efficient energy and electron transfer.     

Imine-based covalent organic framework as photocatalyst for visible-light-induced atom transfer radical polymerization

Photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is an economical and environment-friendly method for synthesizing polymers with pre-designable structures and precise molecular weight. Although significant progress for copper-mediated photoinduced ATRP has been achieved, several drawbacks still remain, such as poor electron transfer capability and absorption bands of photocatalysts near UV region. Herein, imine-based covalent organic framework, TAPPy-TPA-COF , has been synthesized as potential heterogeneous photocatalyst for photoinduced ATRP. The “living” feature of polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) can be well controlled by efficiency maintain the balance between activation and inactivation of Cu^I and Cu^II. The chain extension experiments have further demonstrated the chain-end fidelity of polymers. Meanwhile, the catalyst recycle experiments have revealed stability of TAPPy-TPA-COF toward ATRP processes. These results support the feasibility of using COFs as heterogeneous photocatalysts for copper-mediated ATRP under visible light irradiation.     

Pt nanoparticles@photoactive metal-organic frameworks: efficient hydrogen evolution via synergistic photoexcitation and electron injection

Pt nanoparticles of 2-3 nm and 5-6 nm in diameter were loaded into stable, porous, and phosphorescent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs 1 and 2) built from [Ir(ppy)(2)(bpy)](+)-derived dicarboxylate ligands (L(1) and L(2)) and Zr(6)(μ(3)-O)(4)(μ(3)-OH)(4)(carboxylate)(12) secondary building units, via MOF-mediated photoreduction of K(2)PtCl(4). The resulting Pt@MOF assemblies serve as effective photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution by synergistic photoexcitation of the MOF frameworks and electron injection into the Pt nanoparticles. Pt@2 gave a turnover number of 7000, approximately five times the value afforded by the homogeneous control, and could be readily recycled and reused.