In situ grown CdS on 2D Cd-based porphyrin MOFs enhances the significant separation and transfer of charge carriers with an appropriate heterojunction during photocatalytic hydrogen evolution†
Abstract
In theory, unmodified porphyrin metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could be used as an available photocatalyst due to their excellent visible light response. Herein, a convenient method was adapted to fabricate a material integrating CdS and Cd-based porphyrin MOFs (CdS/NS-Cd) for enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance, in which the uniformly dispersed CdS was grown in situ on the metal clusters (Cd–O clusters) of thin 2D Cd-based porphyrin MOFs (NS-Cd) with thioacetamide as a sulfur source. Its improved photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate (1.5 mmol g−1 h−1) and high quantum efficiency (8.3% of 420 nm) compared to those of the bulk NS-Cd were mainly ascribed to the matched energy band structure and shortened transmission distance between 2D NS-Cd and CdS. This work provides a novel and reliable idea for preparing integrated metal-sulfides/2D-MOFs via an in situ growth strategy to realize significant separation and transfer of charge carriers.