Immobilization of Metal-Organic Framework MIL-100(Fe) on the Surface of BiVO: A New Platform for Enhanced Visible-Light-Driven Water Oxidation.

The development of new dual functional photocatalysts is highly desirable for conversion and storage of solar energy. Herein, we first constructed hierarchical structure MIL-100(Fe)@BiVO in situ growing MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of decahedron BiVO under mild hydrothermal conditions. The as-synthesized hybrid nanostructure is unambiguously determined using a series of characterization methods. These results demonstrate that the ultra-tiny MOF MIL-100(Fe) particles are immobilized on the surface of decahedron BiVO and the composite exhibits a strong interaction between BiVO and MIL-100(Fe). This hybrid material MIL-100(Fe)@BiVO is employed as a photocatalyst for water oxidation reaction and demonstrates higher O production activity in comparison with bare BiVO. The best performance obtained at the optimal mass percentage of MIL-100(Fe) (8.0 wt %) reaches 333.3 μmol h g of the O evolution rate irradiated with visible light, which is almost 4.3 times higher than bare BiVO (77.3 μmol h g). The enhanced water oxidation performance is due to the more efficient interfacial electron-hole transfer between MIL-100(Fe) and BiVO, which is verified by the results of various photo-electrochemical characterizations. Moreover, the as-prepared composite MIL-100(Fe)@BiVO also displays excellent stability for visible-light-driven water oxidation. This study affords a rational strategy for the controllable construction by loading metal-organic frameworks on a semiconductor surface, which is a good reference for other artificial photosystems.