Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2015, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (12): 2071-2088.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(15)60984-6

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Strategies for engineering metal-organic frameworks as efficient photocatalysts

Lijuan Shena,c, Ruowen Lianga, Ling Wua,b   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China;
    b State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China;
    c National Engineering Research Center of Chemical Fertilizer Catalyst, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China
  • Received:2015-08-29 Revised:2015-09-24 Online:2015-12-02 Published:2015-12-07
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21273036, 21177024) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB239303).

Abstract:

Environmental pollution and energy deficiency represent major problems for the sustainability of the modern world. Photocatalysis has recently emerged as an effective and environmentally friendly technique to address some of these sustainability issues, although the key to the success of this approach is dependent on the photocatalysts themselves. Based on their attractive physic chemical properties, including their ultrahigh surface areas, homogeneous active sites and tunable functionality, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have become interesting platforms for the development of solar energy conversion devices. Furthermore, MOFs have recently been used in a wide variety of applications, including heterogeneous photocatalysis for pollutant degradation, organic transformations, hydrogen production and CO2 reduction. In this review, we have highlighted recent progress towards the application of MOFs in all of these areas. We have collected numerous reported examples of the use of MOFs in these areas, as well as providing some analysis of the key factors influencing the efficiency of these systems. Moreover, we have provided a detailed discussion of new strategies that have been developed for enhancing the photocatalytic activity of MOFs. Finally, we have provided an outlook for this area in terms of the future challenges and potential prospects for MOFs in photocatalysis.

Key words: Metal-organic frameworks, Photocatalysis, Ligand, Functionalization, Photosensitization, Co-catalyst, Composite