Exploring the recent advancements in metal-organic framework-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production

Abstract

The depletion of fossil fuels has inspired young scientists to obtain green, renewable, and sustainable energy sources. So the research is currently focused on finding low-cost, environmentally friendly green energy. One of the excellent ways to achieve this target is to produce clean hydrogen via photocatalytic water splitting through the aid of cheaper and easily prepared photocatalysts in the laboratory. For this purpose, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-based photocatalysts are the emerging class of materials for the photocatalytic production of hydrogen because of their fascinating properties such as flexibility in structure, high surface area, and chemical component diversification. However, the associated drawback in most MOFs is the poor charge transfer and separation ability during the photocatalytic reaction. To overcome this problem, the fabrication of novel MOFs-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production is a demanding task in this field. For this purpose, we presented a critical overview of the development of MOF-derived photocatalysts, pristine MOFs, and MOF heterojunction nanocomposites for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Such novel materials have served as a helping hand in minimizing charge recombination, improving stability, and increasing the better yield of hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting. So this review briefly discusses the current state-of-the-art MOF-based photocatalysts and their efficacy of producing hydrogen through photocatalytic hydrogen reaction pathway. Finally, the numerous challenges and future perspectives in deriving hydrogen from photocatalytic water splitting are also elaborated. This review will help numerous young researchers with the fabrication of new MOF-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production.