As global energy demand continues to rise, the need for renewable energy resources has become clear. One popular approach is artificial photosynthesis, which utilizes sunlight to drive H2O oxidation and CO2 reduction to store solar energy in carbon-based products. In this process, H2O oxidation is typically labeled the bottleneck, due to high kinetic and thermodynamic barriers. Significant work has been done in the development of catalysts for water oxidation, including the incorporation of molecular catalysts into metal organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are composed of metal ions or clusters connected by organic linkers and provide an excellent framework for catalytic reactivity due to their high internal surface area and high degree of tunability. Additionally, catalytically loaded MOFs have been shown to retain the reactivity of the homogeneous catalyst, while reducing dimerization and increasing reusability. While MOFs have proven to be a useful platform for the reactions of artificial photosynthesis, many examples of H2O oxidation or CO2 reduction drive the reaction through use of sacrificial reagents or large overpotentials, conditions that are unrealistic for practical applications. Here we report a catalytically loaded MOF (UiO-67) grown on WO3 for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. The WO3/MOF film demonstrates enhanced catalytic activity under illumination and maintains activity at significantly lower potentials than previously required for the catalyst loaded MOF without WO3.

Photoelectrochemical water oxidation by a MOF/WO3 film

ACS Fall 2021

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