Chapter 17
Novel Porous Metal–Organic Frameworks
(MOFs) for Water Splitting
17.1 Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), known as porous coordination polymers
(PCPs) as well, are emerging as a class of promising crystalline microporous
materials and receive great research interest. MOFs are hybrid materials composed
of organic linkers and metal-oxo clusters. The outstanding structural features of
MOFs are the ultrahigh porosity (up to 90% free volume) and incredibly high
internal surface areas, extending beyond a Langmuir surface area of 10,000 m
2 /g
[1, 2]. This plays a crucial role in many functional applications such as storage,
separation [3, 4], sensing [3], proton conduction [5–7], and drug delivery
[8]. Among various highly porous materials, MOFs are unique in their degree of
tunability and structural diversity as well as their range of chemical and physical
properties. Owing to their unique attributes, open structures with periodic dual
composition, MOFs are amenable to change secondary building blocks into a
desired framework expanding or decorating a specific blueprint network topology
[9, 10]. So they have been considered as a promising type of materials.
17.2 Hydrogen Production
In recent years, visible light-responsive porous metal–organic framework
photocatalysts have been investigated deeply. As a kind of porous material, MOFs
have shown semiconductor-like characters in photocatalysis [11–15]. Commonly,
the photochemical reduction of water into hydrogen molecules using a photocatalyst
does not rely on fossil fuels, but it is an ideal method for producing clean energy.
MOFs provide versatile means to integrate functional components for solar energy
utilization.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
J. Zhang et al., Photocatalysis, Lecture Notes in Chemistry 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2113-9_17
403
Novel Porous Metal–Organic Frameworks
(MOFs) for Water Splitting
17.1 Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), known as porous coordination polymers
(PCPs) as well, are emerging as a class of promising crystalline microporous
materials and receive great research interest. MOFs are hybrid materials composed
of organic linkers and metal-oxo clusters. The outstanding structural features of
MOFs are the ultrahigh porosity (up to 90% free volume) and incredibly high
internal surface areas, extending beyond a Langmuir surface area of 10,000 m
2 /g
[1, 2]. This plays a crucial role in many functional applications such as storage,
separation [3, 4], sensing [3], proton conduction [5–7], and drug delivery
[8]. Among various highly porous materials, MOFs are unique in their degree of
tunability and structural diversity as well as their range of chemical and physical
properties. Owing to their unique attributes, open structures with periodic dual
composition, MOFs are amenable to change secondary building blocks into a
desired framework expanding or decorating a specific blueprint network topology
[9, 10]. So they have been considered as a promising type of materials.
17.2 Hydrogen Production
In recent years, visible light-responsive porous metal–organic framework
photocatalysts have been investigated deeply. As a kind of porous material, MOFs
have shown semiconductor-like characters in photocatalysis [11–15]. Commonly,
the photochemical reduction of water into hydrogen molecules using a photocatalyst
does not rely on fossil fuels, but it is an ideal method for producing clean energy.
MOFs provide versatile means to integrate functional components for solar energy
utilization.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
J. Zhang et al., Photocatalysis, Lecture Notes in Chemistry 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2113-9_17
403