Issue 17, 2020

Boosting the photocatalytic CO2 reduction of metal–organic frameworks by encapsulating carbon dots

Abstract

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is a promising technology to mitigate global warming and enrich energy supply. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are prospective photocatalysts for CO2 reduction, but severe charge recombination and limited visible light response largely restrain their applications. As carbon dots (CDs) can act as both electron receptors and photosensitizers, here we propose to develop CD-hybridized MOF photocatalysts for improving their activity for CO2 reduction. In particular, because of the small size of CDs, we have managed to encapsulate CDs inside MOF particles and found that these CD@MOFs exhibit hugely improved photocatalytic activity compared with CD-decorated MOFs or pristine MOFs. Our investigations suggest that placing small CD cocatalysts near the internal metal–oxo clusters of MOFs can help efficient charge transfer and separation in the hybrid photocatalysts, due to the formation of many small heterojunctions among MOFs. The developed CD-hybridized MOF catalysts are characterized in detail and their working mechanism is explored. This work may demonstrate a novel strategy to develop MOF-based hybrid photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Graphical abstract: Boosting the photocatalytic CO2 reduction of metal–organic frameworks by encapsulating carbon dots

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 2 2020
Accepted
18 3 2020
First published
19 3 2020

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 9533-9540

Boosting the photocatalytic CO2 reduction of metal–organic frameworks by encapsulating carbon dots

S. Li, K. Ji, M. Zhang, C. He, J. Wang and Z. Li, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 9533 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR01696A

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