Reduced Ti-MOFs encapsulated black phosphorus with high stability and enhanced photocatalytic activity

The generation of green hydrogen (H-2) energy is of great significance to solve worldwide energy and environmental issues. Reduced Ti based photocatalyst has recently attracted intensive attention due to its excellent photocatalytic activity, while the synthesis of reduced Ti based photocatalysts with high stability is still a great challenge. Here, we report a facile method for synthesis of reduced Ti metal organic frameworks (small amounts of Pt incorporated) encapsulated BP (BP/R-Ti-MOFs/Pt) hybrid nanomaterial with enhanced photocatalytic activity. The strong interaction between Ti and P reduces the valence state of the binding Ti4+ on the BP surface, forming abundant reduced Ti4+ within R-Ti-MOFs/BP. Such reduced Ti4+ render R-Ti-MOFs/BP efficient charge transfer and excellent light absorption capability, thus promote the photocatalytic H-2 production efficiency. Furthermore, the Ti-P interaction stabilizes both reduced Ti4+ and BP during the photocatalytic reaction, which greatly enhanced the stability of the obtained BP/R-TiMOFs/Pt photocatalyst. (C) 2020 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The generation of green hydrogen energy is crucial for solving global energy and environmental issues. Recent studies have focused on reducing Ti-based photocatalysts for their excellent photocatalytic activity, although the synthesis of stable variants remains a challenge. Incorporating small amounts of Pt into reduced Ti metal organic frameworks has been shown to enhance photocatalytic activity and stability.