UiO-66 MOFs as electron transport channel to short circuit dye photosensitizer and NiS2 co-catalyst for increased hydrogen generation

We report an Erythrosin B (ErB) dye/UiO-66/NiS2 system to achieve the increased photocatalytic H-2 generation, in which UiO-66 serves as the electron channel to transport the electrons from photoexcited ErB dye to NiS2 co-catalyst. The pi-pi interaction ensures an effective adsorption of ErB dye upon UiO-66 and the functionalized organic linkers guarantee the growth of NiS2. The UiO-66/NiS2 composite with optimal content of NiS2 (5.0 wt%) offers an active H-2 generation rate of 18.4 mu mol h(-1), nearly 2 times higher than that by using NiS2 and ErB (9.8 mu mol h(-1)). The present study manifests the advantage of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as the electron transfer channel to boost the H-2 generation of conventional systems containing photosensitizer and H-2 generation co-catalyst. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.